Writings on Music, 1965-2000 Hardcover - 2002

Name: Writings on Music, 1965-2000
Price: 100.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Reich, Steve
ISBN: 9780195111712

by Steve Reich

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Summary

From the publisher

In the mid-1960s, Steve Reich radically renewed the musical landscape with a back-to-basics sound that came to be called Minimalism. These early works, characterized by a relentless pulse and static harmony, focused single-mindedly on the process of gradual rhythmic change. Throughout his
career, Reich has continued to reinvigorate the music world, drawing from a wide array of classical, popular, sacred, and non-western idioms. His works reflect the steady evolution of an original musical mind. Writings on Music documents the creative journey of this thoughtful, groundbreaking composer. These 64 short pieces include Reich's 1968 essay "Music as a Gradual Process," widely considered one of the most influential pieces of music theory in the second half of the 20th century. Subsequent
essays, articles, and interviews treat Reich's early work with tape and phase shifting, showing its development into more recent work with speech melody and instrumental music. Other essays recount his exposure to non-western music--African drumming, Balinese gamelan, Hebrew cantillation--and the
influence of these musics as structures and not as sounds. The writings include Reich's reactions to and appreciations of the works of his contemporaries (John Cage, Luciano Berio, Morton Feldman, Gyorgy Ligeti) and older influences (Kurt Weill, Schoenberg). Each major work of the composer's career
is also explored through notes written for performances and recordings. Paul Hillier, himself a respected figure in the early music and new music worlds, has revisited these texts, working with the author to clarify their central narrative: the aesthetic and intellectual development of an influential composer. For long-time listeners and young musicians recently
introduced to his work, this book provides an opportunity to get to know Reich's music in greater depth and perspective.

First line

Late in 1964, I recorded a tape in Union Square in San Francisco of a black preacher, Brother Walter, preaching about the Flood.

Details

Title Writings on Music, 1965-2000
Author Steve Reich
Binding Hardcover
Edition First Edition
Publisher Oxford University Press, USA, New York
Date April 11, 2002
ISBN 9780195111712

About the author

Steve Reich, an artist who has gained international renown over the course of a distinguished career, was recently called "America's greatest living composer" by the Village Voice. The Guardian in London has written, "There's just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have
altered the course of musical history, and Steve Reich is one of them." He has received Grammy awards for Different Trains (1989) and Music For 18 Musicians (1998). His most recent work is the digital video opera Three Tales (2002) done in collaboration with video artist Beryl Korot exploring
technology in the 20th century through the Hindenburg, the Bikini A-bomb tests and Dolly, the cloned sheep. Paul Hillier is a singer, conductor, and writer on music. Currently Director of the Early Music Institute at Indiana University, Hillier also directs the Theatre of Voices and is principal conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. He is co-founder of the Hilliard Ensemble and author of
Arvo Part.