Steve Reich

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Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3, 1936) is an American composer. He is a pioneer of , although his music has increasingly deviated from a purely style. Reich’s innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns (examples are his early compositions, “It’s Gonna Rain” and “Come Out”), and the use of processes to create and explore musical concepts (for instance, “Pendulum music” and “”Four Organs”). These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures and phasing effects, have significantly influenced contemporary music, especially that of his country.

The Guardian has described Reich as one of the few composers to have “altered the direction of musical history.”

Reich often cites Pérotin, J.S. Bach, Debussy and Stravinsky as composers he admires, whose tradition he wished as a young composer to become part of. Jazz is a major part of the formation of Reich’s musical style, and two of the earliest influences on his work were vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Alfred Deller, whose emphasis on the artistic capabilities of the voice alone with little vibrato or other alteration was an inspiration to his earliest works. John Coltrane’s style, which Reich has described as “playing a lot of notes to very few harmonies”, also had an impact; of particular interest was the album “Africa/Brass”, which “was basically a half-an-hour in F.” Reich’s influence from jazz includes its roots, also, from the West African music he studied in his readings and visit to . Other important influences are Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis, and visual artist friends such as Sol Lewitt and Richard Serra.
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  • Music for 18 Musicians
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  • Different Trains
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  • Works 1965-1995
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  • Phases
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  • optimistic_tour

    "GVSU Music for 18 - It's got LOADS of really stupid, basic mistakes in it, so I don't listen to it anymore." lol

    Friday evening

  • shady__grady

    it's also strange because steve reich is just straight up above that.[2]

    Friday evening

  • poeq

    solo estoy diciendo que es al azar.

    last week

  • JeanValjean1830

    Lo he puesto simplemente porque me pareció gracioso, la primera parte. El resto, para que la cita no no quedara totalmente descontextualizada. (¿Ahora también hay que justificar las notas?)

    last week

  • poeq

    yes that's true. it also is out of the blue since no one is saying anything to contrast that here.

    last week

  • JeanValjean1830

    The point is, if you went to Paris and dug up Debussy and said, 'Excusez-moi Monsieur…are you an impressionist?' he'd probably say 'Merde!' and go back to sleep. That is a legitimate concern of musicologists, music historians, and journalists, and it's a convenient way of referring to me, Riley, Glass, La Monte Young [...] it's become the dominant style. But, anybody who's interested in French Impressionism is interested in how different Debussy and Ravel and Satie are—and ditto for what's called minimalism. [...] Basically, those kind of words are taken from painting and sculpture, and applied to musicians who composed at the same period as that painting and sculpture was made [...]. —From an Interview with Rebecca Y. Kim, 2000.

    13 days ago

  • kaziorvb

    Well, indeed, GVSU's recording is far from flawless but I personally like it as I find it an interesting refreshment of the old great piece of music. It simply makes me feel MF18M is still alive and isn't just some sound from the past.

    16 days ago

  • poeq

    it's also strange because steve reich is just straight up above that.

    16 days ago
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Steve Reich on Facebook

13 Aug 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/stevereichmusic

Hi there Reich fans, You can now "like" Steve Reich on his new Facebook official fan page, brought to you by B&H: http://www.facebook.com/stevereichmusic. Join for the latest news …

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