Steve Reich marathon, parts 2 through 4

[kenjari]

The second concert started with Six Pianos, a piece I had not heard before. It's much like Drumming and other works from the 1970s, made up of simple repeated rhythmic patterns overlapped and set out of phase against each other. I liked it a lot. You would think that so much repetition would be boring, but that's not at all the effect. The gradual shifting of the patterns against each other creates a wealth of gorgeous detail. Six Pianos also had a beautiful sound. I was afraid that six grand pianos would have an overly percussive or plunky sound, but Reich's writing produced a lush and resonant sound.

The second half of the concert was Music for 18 Musicians, which is another of my favorite Reich works, right up there with Different Trains. The performance was very good, and hearing it live was just incredible. It was one of the best, most riveting, and most beautiful concert going experiences I have ever had. The sound of the ensemble is very sensuous and full. Even though the piece is about an hour long, I wanted it to go on forever. I think I know a little bit about what nirvana must be like.


Thursday's first concert began with Violin Phase. It's much like Piano Phase, but for four violins. It's got some really lovely moments. The second piece on the program was Drumming, which is very similar instyle and construction to Music for 18 Musicians. I don't like Drumming quite as much as Music for 18 Musicians, but I do like it. In fact, I think I like it better live than on a recording.


The second concert consisted entirely of pieces that I was not familiar with or had never heard. I loved the first piece, Triple Quartet. It's a later work, so it's not quite as purely minimalist as the works on the previous concerts. Reich's later works have more melodic content and more dissonance. I have a recording of the Triple Quartet - I'm going to listen to it more often.
City Life was the second piece, also a more recent work. It's for a fairly large chamber ensemble and incorporates samples of urban sounds: car horns, pile drivers, people speaking and shouting. It's a very interesting piece, but I didn't love it like I love some of Reich's other works. I'm not sure why, but I don't feel completely convinced by the piece. Perhaps I need to do some further listening.
The concert concluded with the Boston premiere of Daniel Variations, for vocal quartet and chamber ensemble. The work makes oblique reference to contemporary events, particularly the killing of Daniel Pearl. After reading the program notes, I felt some trepidation about the piece, as I always do when about to hear a topical work. Sometimes the topical commentary can hinder a piece's musical success. Fortunately, that was not the case here. Daniel Variations is subtle and moving. I think one of the things that makes it work so well is that the text is a set of simple statements (short quotes from the biblical Book of Daniel and from Daniel Pearl), without any editorializing or polemicizing. The text setting is quite simple, too. In fact, the choice of text and setting is very much like Reich's instrumental technique: brief phrases repeated and overlapped. sen_no_ongaku also has some good commentary on Daniel Variations.