Early life and work

Reich was born in New York, but his childhood years were split between divorced parents in New York and California. He was given piano lessons as a child and describes growing up with the "middle-class favorites", having no exposure to music written before 1750 or after 1900. At the age of 14 he began to study music in earnest, after hearing music from the Baroque period and earlier as well as music of the 20th century, and began studying drums with Roland Kohloff in order to play jazz. He attended Cornell, where he took some music courses but graduated (in 1957) with a B.A. in philosophy. (Reich's B.A. thesis was on Ludwig Wittgenstein; later he would set text by the philosopher to music in Proverb (1995) and You Are (variations) (2004).)

Process music and Minimalism

Reich's early forays into composition involved experimentation with twelve-tone composition, but he found the rhythmic aspects of the twelve-tone series more interesting than the melodic aspects^[1]. Reich had also composed film soundtracks for The Plastic Haircut and Oh Dem Watermelons, two films by Robert Nelson. The soundtrack for Oh Dem Watermelons, composed in 1965, involved basic tape work, using repeated phrasing together in a large five-part canon.

The 1970s

Four Organs (1970) deals specifically with augmentation, and was based on a piece written in 1967, Slow Motion Sound, which was more of a prototype piece. Having never been performed, the idea of slowing down a recorded sound until many times its original length without changing pitch or timbre was applied to Four Organs. The result was a piece with maracas playing a fast quaver pulse, while the four organs stress certain quavers using an 11th chord. This work therefore dealt with rhythmic change and repetition. It is unique in the context of Reich's other pieces in being linear as opposed to cyclic like his earlier works—the superficially similar Phase Patterns, also for four organs but without maracas, is (as the name suggests) a phase piece similar to others composed during the period. Four Organs was performed as part of a Boston Symphony Orchestra program, and was Reich's first composition to be performed in a large traditional setting.

The 1980s

Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of political themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage. Tehillim (1981), Hebrew for psalms, is the first of Reich's works to draw on his Jewish background. The work is in four parts, scored for an ensemble of four women's voices (one high soprano, two lyric sopranos and one alto), piccolo, flute, oboe, english horn, two clarinets, six percussion (playing small tuned tambourines without jingles, clapping, maracas, marimba, vibraphone and crotales), two electronic organs, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, with amplified voices, strings, and winds. A setting of text from psalms 19:2–5 (19:1–4 in Christian translations), 34:13–15 (34:12–14), 18:26–27 (18:25–26), and 150:4–6, Tehillim is a departure from Reich's other work in its formal structure; the setting of texts several lines long rather than the fragments used in previous works brings melody in as a substantive element. Use of formal counterpoint and functional harmony also goes in contrast to the loosely structured minimalist works written previously.

New directions

In 1993, Reich collaborated with his wife, the video artist Beryl Korot, on an opera, The Cave, which explores the roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam through the words of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, echoed musically by the ensemble. The work, for percussion, voices, and strings, is a musical documentary, named for the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where a mosque now stands and Abraham is said to have been buried.

Influence

Reich's style of composition has influenced many other composers and musical groups, including Philip Glass (especially his early pieces), John Adams, the prog-rock band King Crimson, the new-age guitarist Michael Hedges, the art-pop and electronic musician Brian Eno, the composers associated with the Bang on a Can festival (including David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe), and indie rock musician Sufjan Stevens. His music has also been a source of inspiration to ambient and techno musicians. A melodic line from his 1987 work Electric Counterpoint was used by The Orb in their 1991 hit Little Fluffy Clouds. This connection has been honored in a 1999 album by DJs and electronic musicians, Reich Remixed, released on Nonesuch Records.

Reich on himself

[...] I drove a cab in San Francisco, and in New York I worked as a part-time social worker. Phil Glass and I had a moving company for a short period of time. I did all kinds of odd jobs [...] I started making a living as a performer in my own ensemble. I would never have thought that it was how I was going to survive financially. It was a complete wonder." —From an interview with Gabrielle Zuckerman, 2002^[3]

Works

• It's Gonna Rain, tape (1965)
• Come Out, tape (1966)
• Piano Phase for two pianos, or two marimbas (1967)
• Slow Motion Sound concept piece (1967)
• Violin Phase for violin and tape or four violins (1967)
• My Name Is for three tapes recorders and performers (1967)
• Pendulum Music for 3 or 4 microphones, amplifiers and loudspeakers (1968) (revised 1973)^[6]
• Four Organs for four electric organs and maracas (1970)
• Phase Patterns for four electric organs (1970)
• Drumming for 4 pairs of tuned bongo drums, 3 marimbas, 3 glockenspiels, 2 female voices, whistling and piccolo (1970/1971)
• Clapping Music two musicians clapping (1972)
• Music for Pieces of Wood for five pair of tuned claves (1973)
• Six Pianos (1973) - Transcribed as Six Marimbas (1986)
• Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (1973)
• Music for 18 Musicians (1974–76)
• Music for a Large Ensemble (1978)
• Octet (1979) - arranged for ensemble as Eight Lines (1983)
• Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards for orchestra (1979)
• Tehillim for voices and ensemble (1981)
• Vermont Counterpoint for amplified flute and tape (1982)
• The Desert Music for chorus and orchestra or voices and ensemble (1984, text by William Carlos Williams)
• Sextet for percussion and keyboards (1984)
• New York Counterpoint for amplified clarinet and tape, or 11 clarinets (1985)
• Three Movements for orchestra (1986)
• Electric Counterpoint for electric guitar or amplified acoustic guitar and tape (1987, for Pat Metheny)
• The Four Sections for orchestra (1987)
• Different Trains for string quartet and tape (1988)
• The Cave for four voices, ensemble and video (1993, with Beryl Korot)
• Duet for two violins and string ensemble (1993)
• Nagoya Marimbas for two marimbas (1994)
• City Life for amplified ensemble (1995)
• Proverb for voices and ensemble (1995, text by Ludwig Wittgenstein)
• Triple Quartet for amplified string quartet (with prerecorded tape), or three string quartets, or string orchestra (1998)
• Know What Is Above You for four women’s voices and 2 tamborims (1999)
• Three Tales for video projection, five voices and ensemble (1998–2002, with Beryl Korot)
• Dance Patterns for 2 xylophones, 2 vibraphones and 2 pianos (2002)
• Cello Counterpoint for amplified cello and multichannel tape (2003)
• You Are (Variations) for voices and chamber orchestra (2004)
• Variations for Vibes, Pianos, and Strings dance piece for three string quartets, four vibraphones, and two pianos (2005)
• Daniel Variations for four voices and instruments (2006)

Selected discography

• Drumming. Steve Reich and Musicians (Two recordings: Deutsche Grammophon and Nonesuch) So Percussion (Cantaloupe)
• Music for 18 Musicians. Steve Reich and Musicians (Two recordings: ECM and Nonesuch)
• Music for a Large Ensemble/Octet/Violin Phase. Steve Reich and Musicians (ECM)
• Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards/Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ/ Six Pianos. San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Edo de Waart, Steve Reich & Musicians (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Tehillim/The Desert Music. Alarm Will Sound and OSSIA, Alan Pierson (Cantaloupe)
• Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint. Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny (Nonesuch)
• You Are (Variations)/Cello Counterpoint. Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Maya Beiser (Nonesuch)

Notes

1. ^ Malcolm Ball, on Steve Reich
2. ^ K. Robert Schwarz, Minimalists, Phaidon Press 1996, p.84 and p.86
3. ^ ^a b Steve Reich Interview with Gabrielle Zuckerman, July 2002
4. ^ http://www.stevereich.com www.stevereich.com
5. ^ Steve Reich: We tore the wall down Planet Interview (August 14, 2000), Accessed September 20, 2006
6. ^ *Reich, Steve (1975 (New Edition)). Writings on Music. USA: New York University Press, pp. 12-13. ISBN 0814773575.

• Reich, Steve, Hillier, Paul (Editor) (April 1, 2002). Writings on Music, 1965-2000. USA: Oxford University Press, 272. ISBN 0195111710.

External links

• SteveReich.com - Official Website

Interviews

• A Steve Reich Interview with Christopher Abbot
• Steve Reich Interview (7/98) with Richard Kessler
• Time and Motion: an interview with Steve Reich, by Robert Davidson, 1999
• A Steve Reich Interview with Marc Weidenbaum, 1999
• Steve Reich Interview with Jakob Buhre, August 2000
• In Conversation with Steve Reich, by Molly Sheridan, June 2002
• Steve Reich and Beryl Korot interviewed by David Allenby, 2002
• An interview in The Guardian, January 2, 2004
• The Next Phase: Steve Reich talks to Richard Kessler About Redefinition and Renewal, 2004
• A Steve Reich Interview with Hermann Kretzschmar on You Are (Variations), 2005
• The beaten track, an interview with Reich, by Andrew Clements, The Guardian, October 28, 2005
• An interview with Steve Reich on RTE television, National Broadcaster in Ireland, 29 May 2006
• An interview with Steve Reich on musicOMH.com, October 2006

Listening

• Art of the States: Steve Reich Drumming Part I (1971)
• Other Minds: Steve Reich at UC Berkeley University Museum (November 7, 1970) Streaming audio

Others

• Classical Music Pages: Steve Reich biography
• A Description/documentary of Steve Reich from Duke University, includes sound samples and quotes
• EST: Steve Reich by Roger Sutherland
• "Steve Reich" by Ralph Lichtensteiger (with comments on City Life, Clapping Music, The Desert Music, Tehillim, Violin Phase)
• Music as a Gradual Process PDF by Steve Reich (Broken Link: archive.org)
• Steve Reich: You Are (Variations) premiere in LA (October 2004)
• New York Fetes Composer Steve Reich at 70 from NPR

Find out more about Reich, Steve on Wikipedia