Writings on Music, 1965-2000

by Steve Reich, Paul Hillier (Editor)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195354782
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/11/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1330L (what's this?)
File size:	6 MB

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.

Editorial Reviews

"Reich, born in 1936, is one of the most important composers alive. His work, over forty-year period, has helped to shape and transform contemporary music. What is impressive.is his complete vocational certainty, his absolute determination to succeed, and the primacy of the musical product over all other aspects of his life. Given such a vision, it is no surprise to discover the contents of Writings on Music, 1965-2000 are similarly sharp-focused....Some of his most important observations (regarding both his own music and the arts in general) are delivered in a deliberately aphoristic form, as , as perhaps befits a former philosophy major who studied at Cornell in the wake of Wittgenstein."—imes Literary Supplement, October, 11 2002

From the Publisher