CLXXXVII. REICH, Steve: Eight Lines (Octet)

CLXXXVII. REICH, Steve (1936-       )

Eight Lines (Octet) (1979/1983)

Two Versions

1. Ana Chifu, flute
Yiorgos Skrivanos, flute
Kostas Tzekos, clarinet
Alexandros Michaelides, clarinet
Iro Sira, violin
Irina Salenkova, violin
Phaedon Miliadis, violin
Dimitra Triantafyllou, violin
Alexandros Botinis, cello
Paul Grennan, cello
Stefanos Nassos, piano
Vicki Ray, piano
Andreas Levisianos, cond.
(17:52)

2. Bang on a Can
Bradley Luhman, cond.
[scrolling score]
(17:36)

"He didn't reinvent the wheel so much as he showed us a new way to ride." -- John Adams

**

And what a ride.

Reich's music is deep, unforgettable and meaningful.

My previous Reich posts -- Music for 18 Musicians, (Post LIX), Tehillim, (Post LXXIX), Mallet Quartet (Post CXX) and New York Counterpoint (Post XCVII) are all masterpieces and worth checking out, if you missed them the first time ...

**

Many composers have looked back upon earlier works and found them lacking in some manner and have revised them.

In the Baroque era, Bach -- near death -- reused old cantatas to form the incredible B Minor Mass (Post XXVII); Beethoven tried out ideas for the Ninth Symphony (Post C) in his earlier Chorale Fantasy, Op. 80. Many more examples could be provided.

**

Reich composed the octet in 1979 for string quartet, two pianos and two woodwind players. It turned out that all the double stops became tiring for the string players and the addition of an extra viola and cello allowed Reich to break up the difficult job of constantly providing the eight-note pulses and long drones.

So the newly revised piece became Eight Lines. [for some reason, the two violists aren't listed in the credits -- but it is definitely an ensemble of 14, not 12!]

**

The score version is extremely informative if you can read the music. For me, it is instructive in showing how a composer like Reich can turn a 5/4 meter into something so relaxed and comfortable and soothing.

Dave Brubeck's Take Five (Non-Classical: Post cxlvi) was revolutionary in 1959, but you could break an ankle trying to dance to it!

Brubeck was "an artist, a pioneer" (Donald Fagen, New Frontier [Non-Classical Post cxxxviii]) ... and look how many composers in the past 60+ years have tried to do something cool with the meter (not to mention SEVEN and other non-traditional time sigs)!

There is no doubt he is one of the most important composers over the past 50 years. Almost zero of his music is non-important. I could do a whole blog on just him.