Vinyl LP From Pulitzer Prize Winning Artist!
2019 Grammy Award Nominee:
• Producer of The Year, Classical: Judith Sherman
Pulse (2015) is performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)an artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experiencedand Quartet (2013) is played by the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble led by percussionist Colin Currie that specializes in the music of Steve Reich; these are also the ensembles that gave the world premiere performances of the respective works.
Reich says, "Pulse, for winds, strings, piano and electric bass, was completed in 2015 and was, in part, a reaction to Quartet, in which I changed keys more frequently than in any previous work. In Pulse I felt the need to stay put harmonically and spin out smoother wind and string melodic lines in canon over a constant pulse in the electric bass and or piano. From time to time this constant pulse is accented differently through changing hand alternation patterns on the piano. All in all, a calmer more contemplative piece."
He continues, "Quartet, when mentioned in the context of concert music, is generally assumed to mean string quartet. In my case, the quartet that has played a central role in many of my pieces (besides the string quartet) is that of two pianos and two percussion. It appears like that or in expanded form with more pianos or more percussion in The Desert Music; Sextet; Three Movements; The Four Sections; The Cave; Dance Patterns; Three Tales; You Are (Variations); Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings; Daniel Variations; Double Sextet; and Radio Rewrite. In Quartet, there is just this group alone: two vibes and two pianos.
"The piece is one of the more complex I have composed. It frequently changes key and often breaks off continuity to pause or take up new material. Though the parts are not unduly difficult, it calls for a high level of ensemble virtuosity. The form is one familiar throughout history: fast, slow, fast, played without pause. The slow movement introduces harmonies not usually found in my music."
In April 2009 Steve Reich was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition Double Sextet.
Steve Reich has been hailed as "America's greatest living composer" (The Village Voice)
"the most original musical thinker of our time" (The New Yorker)
"among the great composers of the century" (New York Times).
From his early taped speech pieces It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to his and video artist Beryl Korot's digital video opera Three Tales (2002), Reich's path has embraced not only aspects of Western Classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz.
"There's just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history, and Steve Reich is one of them," states The Guardian (London).
"The lyricism, gorgeous instrumental textures and affecting harmonies are genially and spiritually alluring. The genius is that you never really know where the score is going, just why it is going there." - Los Angeles Times
Features:
Vinyl LP
Limited time MP3 download
Musicians:
Pulse:
International Contemporary Ensemble:
Josh Modney, violin
Gabby Diaz, violin
Michi Wiancko, violin
Pauline Kim, violin
Kyle Armbrust, viola
Wendy Richman, viola
Claire Chase, flute
Alice Teyssier, flute
Joshua Rubin, clarinet
Campbell MacDonald, clarinet
Jacob Greenberg, piano
Greg Chudzik, bass
Quartet:
Colin Currie Group:
Colin Currie, vibraphone
Sam Walton, vibraphone
Philip Moore, piano
Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano
Selections:
1. Pulse
Quartet
2. I. Fast
3. II. Slow
4. III. Fast
2019 Grammy Award Nominee:
• Producer of The Year, Classical: Judith Sherman
Pulse (2015) is performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)an artist collective committed to transforming the way music is created and experiencedand Quartet (2013) is played by the Colin Currie Group, an ensemble led by percussionist Colin Currie that specializes in the music of Steve Reich; these are also the ensembles that gave the world premiere performances of the respective works.
Reich says, "Pulse, for winds, strings, piano and electric bass, was completed in 2015 and was, in part, a reaction to Quartet, in which I changed keys more frequently than in any previous work. In Pulse I felt the need to stay put harmonically and spin out smoother wind and string melodic lines in canon over a constant pulse in the electric bass and or piano. From time to time this constant pulse is accented differently through changing hand alternation patterns on the piano. All in all, a calmer more contemplative piece."
He continues, "Quartet, when mentioned in the context of concert music, is generally assumed to mean string quartet. In my case, the quartet that has played a central role in many of my pieces (besides the string quartet) is that of two pianos and two percussion. It appears like that or in expanded form with more pianos or more percussion in The Desert Music; Sextet; Three Movements; The Four Sections; The Cave; Dance Patterns; Three Tales; You Are (Variations); Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings; Daniel Variations; Double Sextet; and Radio Rewrite. In Quartet, there is just this group alone: two vibes and two pianos.
"The piece is one of the more complex I have composed. It frequently changes key and often breaks off continuity to pause or take up new material. Though the parts are not unduly difficult, it calls for a high level of ensemble virtuosity. The form is one familiar throughout history: fast, slow, fast, played without pause. The slow movement introduces harmonies not usually found in my music."
In April 2009 Steve Reich was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition Double Sextet.
Steve Reich has been hailed as "America's greatest living composer" (The Village Voice)
"the most original musical thinker of our time" (The New Yorker)
"among the great composers of the century" (New York Times).
From his early taped speech pieces It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to his and video artist Beryl Korot's digital video opera Three Tales (2002), Reich's path has embraced not only aspects of Western Classical music, but the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music, particularly jazz.
"There's just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history, and Steve Reich is one of them," states The Guardian (London).
"The lyricism, gorgeous instrumental textures and affecting harmonies are genially and spiritually alluring. The genius is that you never really know where the score is going, just why it is going there." - Los Angeles Times
Features:
Vinyl LP
Limited time MP3 download
Musicians:
Pulse:
International Contemporary Ensemble:
Josh Modney, violin
Gabby Diaz, violin
Michi Wiancko, violin
Pauline Kim, violin
Kyle Armbrust, viola
Wendy Richman, viola
Claire Chase, flute
Alice Teyssier, flute
Joshua Rubin, clarinet
Campbell MacDonald, clarinet
Jacob Greenberg, piano
Greg Chudzik, bass
Quartet:
Colin Currie Group:
Colin Currie, vibraphone
Sam Walton, vibraphone
Philip Moore, piano
Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano
Selections:
1. Pulse
Quartet
2. I. Fast
3. II. Slow
4. III. Fast
