Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This has to be Steve Reich's most difficult work to perform; but he's done it. Several times. Music for 18 Musicians is for violin, cello, two clarinets doubling bass clarinet, four women's voices, four pianos, three marimbas, two xylophones, and a metallophone (vibraphone with no motor). It's a 1974 composition that focuses entirely on the rich staccato that gives minimalism its unique sound. However, Reich turns all of this into actual music by adding the richness of the metallophone and the women's voices. Whatever else people may have said about minimalism, pro or con, a work such as Music for 18 Musicians demonstrates its legitimacy. --Paul Cook

Tracks:

Music For 18 Musicians

Amazon.com

This has to be Steve Reich's most difficult work to perform; but he's done it. Several times. Music for 18 Musicians is for violin, cello, two clarinets doubling bass clarinet, four women's voices, four pianos, three marimbas, two xylophones, and a metallophone (vibraphone with no motor). It's a 1974 composition that focuses entirely on the rich staccato that gives minimalism its unique sound. However, Reich turns all of this into actual music by adding the richness of the metallophone and the women's voices. Whatever else people may have said about minimalism, pro or con, a work such as Music for 18 Musicians demonstrates its legitimacy. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining, if approached as proto-dance music instead of modern-classical.......2007-04-24

As a fan of modern-classical music I've often considered the minimalism of Steve Reich to be a disappointing path. I'd much rather listen to the complexity-in-cosmic-unity of Per Norgard, the frenetic textures of Magnus Lindberg or Pierre Boulez, or the zahlenmystik in the unabashedly Orthodox music of Sofia Gubaidulina. Yet, I'm also an occasional listener of progressive house music, and viewed from this perspective MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS is a interesting work indeed.

The hour-long work was written in 1976, and was the final statement in a musical line Reich had been following for nearly a decade. This is music as a process, where 11 chords are introduced at the beginning, and then each is slowly explored in turn over the piece. Yet, this is far from dry or boring, though it could certainly be called repetitive. For me, the piece is remarkable for sounding like the intelligent dance music which reached maturity two decades later. The steady tempo of the word makes it danceable. The eerie vocal writing and peculiar instrumental effects look forward to the exploitation of electronics. And each of the eleven sections is about as long as, and fades out similarly to a track in a house set.

There's little chance that most house producers have heard this work, but the idea of inducing an enchanting hypnotic effect through repetition and a hi-end and bass double hit could understandably have come to different people independently. Nonetheless, if you're a fan of late 90s/early 2000s progressive house, the sort pitched by Anthony Pappa, John Digweed, and Danny Howells at the time, I'd recommend MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS for the mere pleasure of hearing these effects coming live from an acoustic ensemble.

For that other crowd, fans of new music, a better introduction to Steve Reich might be the Variations disc in Deutsche Grammophon's "Echo 20/21" series, which contains three works and gives a larger view of his early pieces (I found the DG "Echo 20/21" disc Drumming disc disappointing, however). Still, MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS is an entertaining work, and might be worth a listen.

Great stuff.......2007-01-20

This is really my favourite minimalist recording. I never warmed up to Philip Glass' stuff but this is really one exceptional piece of work. It completely blew my mind when i bought this twenty years ago and I was in a new wave and punk phase. This is really what this kind of music should be like. This is a completely indispensable CD to any collection.

Disappointing.......2007-01-11

After my disappointment with Seve Reich's recording called "Drumming" I looked forward to this CD to justify the money I spent on both CDs. No such luck. This one sounded so much like the other one that we had to check to be sure which one was on. If therer are 18 musicians playing this music, they must have a very strong union because the other 13 or more must have been in another room taking a prolonged break. We istened to the "Music for 18 Musicians" again by mistake, and then put it both CDs in a place where we would never do it again. My wife, two sons who are a freshman and a senior in college, and I enjoy music and have a wide range of tastes in music. None of us could tolerate either of Steve Reich's CDs, must less like it. Don't buy a Steve Reich CD without listening to it first.

Riveting.......2006-11-14

Music for 18 Musicians is a minimalist masterpiece. Minimalism is not a readily accepted or appreciated genre of modern classical music, so I suggest you listen to the piece before you buy it. Even if you don't like it upon the first listen, I would encourage you to try and appreciate it anyway. The first time I heard "In C" by Terry Riley, I was not particularly enthralled. The more I listen to pieces like this one, the more they grow on me. Reich's piece written for violin, cello, 2 clarinets doubling bass clarinet, 4 pianos, 3 mirimbas, 2 xylophones, 1 metallophone and 4 women's voices is structured in a way unlike much of what people think of as classical music. It starts with a steady pulse from the instruments with different instruments swelling and fading while the instruments outline a series of simple chords. What follows is a set of variations in which different instruments and voices sing different melodic motives on top of one another to create an intricate contrapuntal texture over the steady pulse. Many will call it monotonous, I like to think it is somewhat mesmerizing. And if the composer and his ensemble perform the work, it must be about as close to the sound Reich envisioned.

For those who see this music as uninteresting and monotonous, I would like to explain what makes the piece more than just of bunch of stacatto eigth note chords played in what seems like eternal succession. The whole concept of "Music for 18 Musicians," is that the music just breathes. Reich writes in the liner notes that the whole concept of the piece is to allow the musicians to repeat the motives for as long as a deep breath will allow them to comfotablly play for before they reiterate the phrase. The result is music that seems to be inhaling and exhaling as someone meditating in the lotus position. The musical breaths create an atmospheric sonic tapestry that is incredibly relaxing. If you keep this in mind, you may be able to better appreciate Reich's famous work. If you're like me, you'll walk away from the piece as if you were walking on air.

Amazing Music!!! Buy This Album Now!!!.......2006-04-29

I'm just becoming a fan of Reich's music, and from what I've heard I really like. Reich's influence is all over the place and I'm starting to slowly realize that. His music is a great study in counterpoint, which for all who don't know, is technique of two or more rhythms that play at the same time, but are in the same timbre. Steve Reich's music is some of the most beautiful music I've ever heard. It's music that I've heard in my head for a long time and couldn't quite make heads or tails out of it until now.

Do yourself a favor and buy this album now!

Average customer rating:

Does it Expand or Contract?
majestic
one of my favorite pieces of music ever composed
Steve Reich's Music
BEWARE.

Music for 18 Musicians

Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
Tabula Rasa

ASIN: B000006E4C
Release Date: 1998-03-31

Tracks:

Pulses
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Section IIIA
Section IIIB
Section IV
Section V
Section VI
Section VII
Section VIII
Section IX
Section X
Section XI
Pulses

Amazon.com essential recording

The pulsations of Steve Reich's landmark Music for 18 Musicians signify a New Music precipice. Where so much music after World War II explored extremes of tone, time, and register, Reich--and some of his colleagues in the 1960s and after--gravitated towards immersion in repetitions and telescoped focus on tonal areas. The combination of piano, vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, clarinets, violin, cello, and female voices is intoxicating in Reich's hands. Reich creates a middle-register, ringing vamp with burnished reed palpitations and, eventually, quick, rolling piano figures emerge in tandem with the percussion. This recording is the second-best known, next to the ECM Records version of the piece, and is warm and colorfully tingling. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Does it Expand or Contract?.......2007-04-17

This is no ordinary piece of music. It is hypnotic and beautiful, as most other reviewers point out. It can put all other music out of your mind for periods of time; you only want to stay in the trance.

There are light and dark energies at play in this music. The elements of light are held in the beautiful syntax of rhythm and melody. You might find yourself singing or whistling along very intensely, and even creating new layers to the music with your voice. The elements of darkness are represented as a sense of neurotic insanity, or obsessive particularity.

To be hyptotized for its own sake is dangerous. What is behind this hypnosis? What energy is being expressed here? As you move into your third and fourth listen, ask yourself whether you feel expansion or contraction.

For those who are interested in trance states and deep inward gazing, this recording is definitely an experience worth having. If nothing else, it can remind us that music is awesomely powerful.

majestic .......2006-12-10

This recording is a perfect example of how Reich has influenced instrumental/classical music. Its seems as if every movie released in the last ten years has soundtrack recordings that try to imitate Reich, like the movie American Beauty. While people buy these soundtrack recordings, they often do not even know who Steve Reich is or where there imitation music came from. This is one of the best recordings for anyone knew to this music, and should not be considered as minimalist. I agree with Philip Glass, who believes the word minimalist is not an adequate term.
The term minimalist seems to indicate simplicity or shallowness, but this music is neither. This is in fact very deep and moving music, full of emotion and dynamic ideas.

one of my favorite pieces of music ever composed.......2005-11-29

Composed in 1976 by Reich, this is a piece that goes down as a classic in my view. Although some of his earlier work with tape manipulations now sounds a bit dated and simply doesn't hold up as well, the beauty of Music For 18 Musicians still sounds as fresh to me now as anything that I've heard lately. This particular release on Nonesuch, recorded in 1996 is actually about 11 minutes longer than the original composition, but that length really only adds to the bliss of the piece. At 14 tracks and almost 67 minutes of music, it's just over an hourlong excursion into what feels like a safer place.

Performed by musicians, just as the title states, it actually might fall into what many would consider 'trance' music. It's highly repetitive, and while it bears no relation to the crap being pedalled as trance music these days, it's nearly as hypnotic as any music you'll find. With vocals, stringed instruments, lots of percussive elements (vibraphone, gamelan, marimba, maracas), pianos, and clarinets, it's one of those pieces of music that you can trace back to as a starting point for not only individual artists, but genres as well. It blends non-western, classical, and even a touch of jazz for something that was original at the time, and still stands solidly on that ground.

With all this praise I'm heaping on this piece, I must warn that if you don't enjoy repetitive music, you probably won't appreciate this release quite as much. While it is repetitive, though, it's far from minimal (although it's grouped into that category often). Unfurling over the course of 11 different parts, as well as phasing pieces that lead into and end the overall composition, it breathes like something real and organic as each instrument and voice take their place with the harmony and again blend back down into the mix. It's constantly moving and shifting, and while there are moments of quieter transition, there are also ones of breathtaking splendor as melodies overlap and change speed while different instruments come into and out of focus. It's like taking several different minimal paintings printed on transparencies and subtely shifting them over one another to create new pieces as you see colors blend into one another and fold into something new each time.

Considering that the piece is one that's performed by actual people, the juxtaposition of the different elements is quite amazing (of course, imagining how you would program something like this electronically also staggers the mind), and as mentioned before, you can hear little bits of everyone from Tortoise to different electronic artists like Vladislav Delay and Gas (Mike Ink) having developed parts from it. While their were groundbreaking pieces both before and after it, it's one of those recordings that will envelope you if you allow it to. So, if you're a fan of modern electronic music or even post rock, you should probably hunt down this release and hear it at least once. If you can, simply stop doing everything else, pop it in the CD player and relax with it on a pair of headphones for the entirety of the release. You'll come to just under 70 minutes later when the CD stops spinning, and chances are you'll want to do it again sometime. I certainly do.

(from almost cool music reviews)

Steve Reich's Music.......2005-09-15

If you have ever heard of Steve Reich, you probably first heard about him in a Music Appreciation class in college. His genre is minimalism, considered by some to be "America's classical music." If you have never heard this kind of music before, it could really bother you. This music has a whole different philosophy underlying it. What is music supposed to do for you? Popular classical music typically has strong form, and seeks to provide the listener with many types of variety in melody and chord-progression. Minimalism intentionally does away with a lot of that. In Steve Reich's music, rhythm is very important, and in 18, continuous pulses, melodic patterns, crescendos and decrescendos all swirl and dovetail. Repetition is used to create a tonal "picture" for you to soak in as subtle variations are introduced and eventually fade out. The result is colorfully impressionistic, and at times jazzy.

BEWARE........2005-08-09

The worst question you could ever ask a music fan, one who is always searching for something more to broaden their sense of what drives this passion for music, is what their favorite album or piece of music.

Now I'm a fan of folk, indie rock, some hip-hop, country, choral music, hardcore, and other classical artists, but it wasn't until I heard 'Music For 18 Musicians' during my sophomore year in college during a semester abroad in Oxford, England that I could settle on one album for that top spot. No more sifting through Kid A, Pet Sounds, Rites Of Spring, or Heartbreaker...No this was the mathematically perfect piece of music that you've been looking for all your life.

I originally heard the ECM recording (only through the first 5 chords) and normally the first version I hear tends to be my favorite, but the Nonesuch recording is so rich, longer, better recorded, and it's divided into separate tracks as everyone has already pointed out.

The way '18' weaves in and out of it's chords is not an ambient minimalist piece that you can enjoy as mere background music like an Eno record but this is more for concentrated listens. Not to say that it can't be enjoyed in the passive form, but I definitely get more from the concentrated full-run sessions.

Beware though; this piece can often turn you against all other music for long periods of time. Also it made me realize I would never be a musician. You'll just want to write something this perfect, and I knew that I couldn't. My talents lie elsewhere.

Average customer rating:

Boring and unimaginative
Children of Reich Create Loving Homage
Decent, but disappointing overall.
Great music for an electronic fan
Proxy for a Reich's Greatest Hits CD?

Reich Remixed

Manufacturer: Nonesuch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

ASIN: B00000I5LV
Release Date: 1999-03-02

Tracks:

Music For 18 Musicians (Coldcut Remix) - Steve Reich
Eight Lines (Howie B Remix) - Bang On A Can/Bradley Lubman
The Four Sections (Andrea Parker Remix) - London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas
Megamix (Tranquility Bass Remix) - Steve Reich/London Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson Thomas/Theatre Of Voices...
Drumming (Mantronik Maximum Drum Formula) - Steve Reich
Proverb (Nobukazu Takemura Remix) - Theatre Of Voices
Piano Phase (D*Note's Phased & Konfused Mix) - Double Edge
City Life (DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid Open Circuit) - The Steve Reich Ensemble/Bradley Lubman
Come Out (Ken Ishii Remix) - Steve Reich
Bonus Track 1 - Various Artists

Amazon.com

The beauty of Steve Reich's minimalist compositions can be found not in their repetition but in their evolution. Listening to the Kronos Quartet perform Different Trains, the listener quickly gets over the camp value of the conductor samples to discover an unfolding theme that harks back not only to bustling industrialism but also to the horror of the Nazi concentration-camp trains. Reich is a master of such subtle changes in sonics, and his impeccable timing turns simple phrases into musical tapestries. On Reich Remixed, some of dance music's more innovative artists pay homage to the composer in the way they know best: by sampling his works and remixing them into their own. Coldcut's take on Music for 18 Musicians adds a fast-paced techno flair to the classic composition, Howie B's Eight Lines respectfully keeps the integrity of the original piece, and Tranquility Bass peppers "Megamix" with voices and (eventually) beats. There are some misses here, and, most unfortunate, DJ Spooky's schizophrenic treatment of City Life lobotomizes a previously fine composition. No, you still can't dance to Reich, but you can see how others use him for source material. But after hearing these condensed and diced versions, you might find it's worth delving back into Reich's originals to hear what the fuss is all about. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

Boring and unimaginative.......2005-07-13

My opinion is that this compilation doesn't glorify Reich or electronica. I used to think that most techno enthusiasts and maybe even techno composers had probably never heard of him. While I've come to learn that this isn't true, I think this CD would be a good argument in favor of it. I certainly didn't expect Reich Remixed to compare with the originals. And there is certainly nothing wrong with a tribute. But everything here is against Reich's style, both too fast and too simple.

The Coldcut remix of Steve Reich's 18, unfortunately the best track on the disk, is laughable in comparison and a warning against the tracks that follow. After reading the reviews for the original Music for 18 Musicians, there are several people who can say nothing except that it is slow and boring. I think you might as well include Coldplay in that number. It is as if he recorded himself skipping forward through the first 5 or so minutes of the original and smiled at his creation.

He isn't the only one who obviously missed the point. Most of the remixes use some of the cheapest sounding instruments and methods I've heard; these aren't just bad tributes to Reich, they are bad tributes to techno! And don't expect to hear phasing, which was introduced for the first time in Come Out and Drumming, in their remixes. That would require at least some trivial knowledge of Reich's contribution to minimalism, which these artists obviously do not have. And anyway, Reich used much more than rhythmic, vocal/musical repetition and staccato notes, let's get that straight.

I wasted my money on this one. If you haven't been introduced to Reich, I envy you! Try Music for 18 Musicians and Different Trains, many agree that those are among Reich's most powerful pieces.

Children of Reich Create Loving Homage.......2005-04-16

The entrancing hobby of looping gave birth to essencially all forms of techno in existence today, and all followers should be thankful Steve Reich's cassette tapes messed up one day to create a looping effect. He soon became obsessed with overlapping sounds and varying tempos, a basic foundation for modern day electronic music. Such is the reason why a wide variety of artists came together to create a tribute album to this obscure classical composer, and the end result is a diamond in the rough.

If "Reich Remixed" has any style permeating through the whole album, it is the esoteric sounds of trance. Each track brings in a sentimental mourning, but also sings out hosannas of joy, hailing the appreciation of the father of techno. Tranquility Bass's "Megamix", succeeding fully in painting a mural of Reich's repertoire, Coldcut's loving recreation of "Music for 18 Musicians", and Howie B's "Eight Lines" tribute will draw you in with their joyful melodies. Yet darkness lies ahead as well. Andrea Parker brings in a creepy Trip-Hop version of "The Four Sections", perfect for committing a bank robbery if you get off on that. The bonus track from freQ Nasty & B.L.I.M. has the rough sound of Drum n' Bass without corrupting the original message, although it sounds a bit out of place on this album. The masterpiece is Nobukazu Takemura's "Proverb", which stacks the voices in one loop, which will make one double check the CD for scratches. It not only holds true to what Reich was attempting, but re-interprets.

To those who were already die-hard Reich fans, a word of caution. This CD will sound repititive, perhaps even like cheap rip-offs of the original tracks, as they cannot possibly recreate the massive pieces Reich composed in six or seven minutes of CD time. As well, there are slip-ups. "City Life" is butchered to pieces and essentially impossible to enjoy, and "Come Out" only highlights the limitations of techno's possibilities to create as compared to pen, paper, and a symphony orchestra.

The album explores techno's creative possibilities to new levels, and is an aural treat. Consider it Reich's first DJing experience, changing the world of music in the same way his originals shook the ear drums.

Highs: Techno symphony, with the same variety as an orchestra, skillfully mixed, loving and appropriate recreations of Reich's original masterpieces.
Lows: Reich's originals are better, sometimes butchered here, same repitive downfall of techno at times.
The Score: A-, Reich not Lost in Techno Translation.

Decent, but disappointing overall........2002-01-05

There are a few really good tracks on this CD. My personal favorites are Music for 18 Musicians, Four Sections, the Megamix, and Piano Phase. The Desert Music remix (the bonus track) is okay, not great, but okay. And then there's the bottom end of the spectrum, which is everything else. Unfortunately, what I like is overpowered by what I dislike.

Great music for an electronic fan.......2001-10-04

I enjoyed every one of these pieces on their own. I am familiar with most of the electronic artists and each one of these songs is beautiful. I had never heard Steve Reich's music before this. I enjoyed his music but, I didn't think that the remixes were completely true to his form. Reich's music has some good ideas that the remixer's somewhat expanded upon. I think the idea was to take some of Reich's ideas and put it in to a more modern style. If they wanted someone to rehash his ideas, then it would have been boring. I enjoy these artists, but there are artists out there that are using some of his ideas already, namely Plastikman and Tortoise. Overall the songs are great in any sense.

Proxy for a Reich's Greatest Hits CD?.......2001-06-16

Of all modern classical composers, Steve Reich is the one whose music is most likely to attract the rock-oriented ear. 'Music for 18 Musicians' was a ground-breaking album which closed out the 1970s, and it took much of the audience that had been nurtured on Tangerine Dream's 'Ricochet' and, before that, Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells'. It was only to be expected that other artists would start sampling Reich's works.

I can't get enough of 'Music for 18 Musicians' -- I bought it on LP in 1979, and two versions on CD. It is my No. 1 self-hypnosis album. So I was intrigued to discover how it would be re-worked for this album. I was disappointed, frankly. The Coldcut Remix provides no evidence that the DJ has listened beyond the first five minutes of the original.

But there's no heresy in modifying Reich's music. I welcome every effort to do so. I knew about half of the pieces selected here, so, for me, it's partly a Reich sampler. The great thing about the album is that not only did it get me buying more of Reich's output, but it also got me listening more to the originals.

For me, the stand-out track here is 'Piano Phase', which applies prog-rock values to a piece I didn't know at all well. It could so easily be Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson playing the synth lines over the piano loop!

The opening track has grown on me over the years. At first listen, the Megamix seemed to have too many different samples crowded in; it seemed too ambitious in searching for common musical themes between no fewer than nine of Reich's albums. But now it flows nicely.

The closing track, supposedly based on the Desert Music, is a straightforward techno track, almost Prodigy-like, whose relationship to Reich's music seems entirely tangential.

I believe every Reich fan should hear this album, even though a few will find perhaps nothing to like. And I'd recommend anyone who buys this album without knowing Reich to listen also to 'Different Trains', 'Electric Counterpoint', and of course, 'Music for 18 Musicians'.

Tracks:

Come Out
Piano Phase
It's Gonna Rain, Part I
It's Gonna Rain, Part II
Four Organs

Tracks:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Tracks:

Music For Mallet Instruments, Voices And Organ
Clapping Music
Six Marimbas

Tracks:

Music For 18 Musicians: Pulses
Music For 18 Musicians: Section I
Music For 18 Musicians: Section II
Music For 18 Musicians: Section IIIA
Music For 18 Musicians: Section IIIB
Music For 18 Musicians: Section IV
Music For 18 Musicians: Section V
Music For 18 Musicians: Sectionn VI
Music For 18 Musicians: Section VII
Music For 18 Musicians: Section VIII
Music For 18 Musicians: Section IX
Music For 18 Musicians: Section X
Music For 18 Musicians: Section XI
Music For 18 Musicians: Pulses

Tracks:

Eight Lines
Tehillim: Part 1: Fast
Tehillim: Part 2: Fast
Tehillim: Part 3: Slow
Tehillim: Part 4: Fast

Tracks:

The Desert Music: First Movement
The Desert Music: Second Movement
The Desert Music: Third Movement, Part One
The Desert Music: Third Movement, Part Two
The Desert Music: Third Movement, Part Three
The Desert Music: Fourth Movement
The Desert Music: Fifth Movement

Tracks:

Works: New York Counterpoinnt: Fast
Works: New York Counterpoint: Slow
Works: New York Counterpoint: Fast
Works: Sextet: 1st Movement
Works: Sextet: 2nd Movement
Works: Sextet: 3rd Movement
Works: Sextet: 4th Movement
Works: Sextet: 5th Movement
Works: I. Strings
Works: II. Percussion
Works: III. Winds And Brass
Works: IV. Full Orchestra

Tracks:

Works: Different Trains - America - Before The War
Works: Different Trains - Europe - During The War
Works: Different Trains - After The War
Works: Electric Counterpoint - Fast
Works: Electric Counterpoint - Slow
Works: Electric Counterpoint - Fast
Works: Movement I
Works: Movement II
Works: Movement III

Tracks:

The Cave: Typing Music
The Cave: Who Is Abraham?
The Cave: Who Is Ishmael?
The Cave: Genesis XVIII
The Cave: Genesis XXI
The Cave: The Casting Out Of Ishmael And Hager
The Cave: Machpelah
The Cave: Genesis XXV
The Cave: Interior Of The Cave
The Cave: Surah 3
The Cave: El Khalil Commentary
The Cave: Who Is Abraham?W
The Cave: Who Is Sarah?
The Cave: Who Is Hagar?
The Cave: Who Is Ishmael?
The Cave: The Binding Of Isaac
The Cave: The Cave Of Machpelah

Tracks:

Proverb
Nagoya Marimbas
City Life: 'Check It Out'
City Life: Pile Driver - alarms
City Life: 'It's Been A Honeymoon - Can't Take No Mo'
City Life: Heartbeats - Boats & Buoys
City Life: 'Heavy Smoke'

Amazon.com essential recording

In the afterglow of his 60th birthday in 1997, Nonesuch Records delivered Steve Reich and his listeners an immense gift, this 10-CD retrospective of his work for the label, extending from his earliest tape-manipulation pieces to his most recent compositions utilizing samplers and the video artistry of Beryl Korot. Aside from the ear's liquid sense-making when it hears the dense and limber marimbas of Reich's Six Marimbas or his taut, dizzying Piano Phase, there is a physical response almost inevitable in Reich's music. It stuns and holds you. And he knows it. It's Gonna Rain struck an early chord of inventiveness, featuring an African American Pentecostal preacher's sermon and eventually spinning the title phrase into a jangling repetition of single words. Percussion works abound here: Clapping and Drumming stun with their deceptive similarity and warm clarity. Perennial favorite Piano Phase features pianists Nurit Tilles and Eduard Neumann synched up on two pianos and careening at full tilt in unison before their four hands fall out of time and phrase with each other, only to realign in a powerful swooping demonstration of energy and focus. The latter CDs hold abundant delights, many revealing Reich's late-discovered spiritualism and Judaica: Different Trains' examination of the Holocaust; Tehillim's shimmering Hebrew texts sung with fascinating choral power; Proverb's invocation of Perotin. Closing the set are recent pieces: Nagoya Marimbas, and the sampler-rich City Life and The Cave. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

Classic, but not the definitive..........2004-05-20

While a multi CD collection spanning 30 years does sound very promsing, Nonesuch cannot offer all of the best recordings of some of Reich's masterpieces (Music for 18 Musicians or Drumming), and some have been missed out completely (Music for a Large Ensemble), presumably because the piece was not recorded under the Nonesuch label. While the collection is formidable, a listener wanting to hear the best recordings of all the pieces might do better seeking out the older (or longer!) recordings of the pieces.

Essential.......1999-02-24

The term "essential" gets thrown about too much. And heck, the claim that certain words get thrown about too much gets thrown about too much. But here is a collection that really *is* essential to understanding the nature of a whole shift not just in classical music, but in popular music and indeed in popular culture. So many of Reich's ideas and concepts have become so deeply embedded in current classical music, film scoring (any number of examples, but think about Tangerine Dream's score for "Risky Business" and Hans Zimmer's score for "Thin Red Line," for starters), electronic music and even the visual arts.

This box set gives the listener all of Reich's major works. I can't even attempt to describe them individually, but every one of these 10 CDs is compelling. For the totally uninitiated, take out "Music for 18 Musicians" (presented here in a crystalline new recording) to get an idea of what the core of this guy is all about. From there, you might want to listen to "Different Trains," "Electric Counterpoint" and "Six Marimbas" to get an idea of the pointillistic pulse minimalism that Reich contributed to the world. The earlier material is the more challenging, exploring the subtleties of rythym, phase relationships between sounds and shifting timings. Among these, the new recording of "Four Organs" is just outstanding.

Tracks:

Pulses
Section I
Section II
Section IIIA
Section IIIB
Section IV
Section V
Section VI
Section VII
Section VIII
Section IX
Section X
Section XI
Pulses

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful recording..........2004-06-09

This is an excellent recording, with emphasis on the processes which occur during the piece, allowing the listener to understand and enjoy the piece simultaneously. Owning lots of the Ensemble Modern's work, I can say that I have always enjoyed the pieces more because of the brilliant audio quality of recordings that they create, and this is no exception. Worth a listen.

An Academic Approach To 18.......2001-12-12

I own all three recordings of Music For 18 Musicians; I suggest that for anyone who is truly interested in the work, owning all three is a must.

In order of preference for me, the recordings go ECM, RCA, and Nonesuch.

No recording of 18 quite captures the piece as it sounds live. (I've had the luck to see it twice with Steve Reich & Musicians at the San Francisco Symphony.) However, the ECM version comes close to duplicating the timbre of the real thing. To my ears, it sounds the most "live".

The RCA/Ensemble Modern recording is perhaps the best performed. Ensemble Modern emphasizes Reich's earlier philosophies about music as a process; they clearly delineate the various instruments and lines in the recording, and they properly accentuate the lead mallet lines. (I say "proper" because that's what it sounded like when I saw 18 performed live.) What this recording lacks in lush beauty, it gains in near-academic perfection.

The new Nonesuch recording was designed from the ground up to be a recording, not a live performance. Most instruments are close-mic'd, which gives the odd feeling of standing next to all of the instruments at the same time. I love it for its open spaces, surprising tempo, and stunning imaging of the mallet instruments. It is as lush and beautiful as the ECM recording, but I prefer the subtleties and pacing of the ECM more.

A worthy alternate to Reich's own recordings.......2000-07-29

It's generally true that different versions of a piece of music emphasize different aspects, but perhaps more true of Steve Reich's landmark 'Music for 18 Musicians' because it's so densely layered. The Ensemble Modern recording has more of a live feel than either of Reich's own, with the marimbas, xylophones and winds mixed more up front compared to the pianos and voices. Both of the Reich recordings seem to mix all instruments with equal emphasis, creating a monolithic ensemble sound. Ensemble Modern is sloppier than Steve Reich and Musicians, with very occasionally a ragged tempo or a note off key. In the main, though, the playing is very solid. Some of the rhythms have a cooking, almost-pop feel. Altogether I'd rank the this rendition up there with Steve's original ECM recording, putting his recent Nonesuch version third.

Ensemble Modern offers a fine reading of "18".......1999-04-23

Germany's Ensemble Modern does a fine job on this new recording of "Music for 18 Musicians," the first such recording of this piece by an ensemble not directly connected with the composer (although two percussionists from Reich's Musicians do sit in, and Reich was present during the sessions). But for the most part it is interesting to hear what this piece sounds like but performers other than the Reich circle. However, there are only a few flaws in this recording: 1) While some sections are well structured, there were others that did not get enough attention, such as Section IIIa (one of my favorite sections of the piece), which was way too pitifully short; 2) Occasionally some of the female voices therein sounded strained, especially in the high register. On the other hand, the structures to other sections were well defined and the metalophone cut through very well to signal the ensemble to the next module. While the original 1978 recording may still be the winner and champion, this recording makes a fine addition on its own to the "18" lore. My ideal (almost Utopian) recording? To have some of my favorite sections (such as the aforementioned IIIa and b, plus Sections V-VIII (those of you scoring at home will know what I am talking about)) go on for a very long time (hey, I can take it!), and, through the miracle of overdubbing, Joan La Barbara cover all the vocal parts.

Average customer rating:

Astounding
Choose other records...
Have just ordered, and heard great things...

Music for 18 Musicians Live

Manufacturer: Hungaroton
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Minimal Techno | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
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Reich: Music For 18 Musicians / Ensemble Modern
Steve Reich: You Are (Variations)

ASIN: B00018D3LO
Release Date: 2004-01-27

Tracks:

Music for 18 Musicians

Customer Reviews:

Astounding.......2006-12-12

I've listened to many versions of Reich's beautiful piece, but this one somehow feels the most rich. The opening Pulses section is mesmerizingly full in sound, and captures the feeling of beauty and mystery in the piece better than other productions, whose starts just feel flat in comparison.

Choose other records..........2004-07-08

1. This is totally subjective...
2. Your milage may vary.
3. Fast is not necessarily better. The recent recording of Alarm Will Sound illustrate that a fever pitch, while debatable in terms of fascination, does not work when the performance gets sloppy. There is the same problem in this rendering of "18."
4. Timbre is key; The real capper in this piece is the overall timbre. Commenting on this piece, Reich has alluded to the image of a seashore and waves. The classic ECM recording is the only one in my opinion that preserves this. Many of Reich's pieces, in my opinion, have suffered from too close microphone placement. The result is recordings often discribed as merely "interesting," by the uninitiated, wheras many listeners I've found are completed astounded by the ECM edition of "18."

There are some interesting bits of this performance, but overall not significantly different enough from Esemble Modern's recording. I recommend that all but completists look for the original ECM CD recordig, then to Ensemble Modern.

Have just ordered, and heard great things..........2004-05-20

Reich has said himself, (and you might want to note that he is not usually positive about Europian recordings of his own works), but he said that the Hungarians "..really know how to play this stuff!". Ive heard the first "Pulses" and it has an energetic sound, and the instruments have been captured well for a live recording. Guess I'll find out soon about the rest! Would be worth buying just to hear another version of the piece.

Average customer rating:

TUNE IN, TURN ON, DROP OUT, BABY
The first time around still stays with me...

Music For 18 Musicians

Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Vocal Jazz General | Vocal Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

ECM Classical | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

ECM Jazz & World | ECM Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0000031QC
Release Date: 1994-03-15

Tracks:

Music For 18 Musicians

Amazon.com

This has to be Steve Reich's most difficult work to perform; but he's done it. Several times. Music for 18 Musicians is for violin, cello, 2 clarinets doubling bass clarinet, 4 women's voices, 4 pianos, 3 marimbas, 2 xylophones and a metallophone (vibraphone with no motor). It's a 1974 composition that focuses entirely on the rich staccato that gives Minimalism its unique sound. However, Reich turns all of this into actual music by adding the richness of the metallophone and the women's voices. Whatever else people may have said about minimalism, pro or con, a work such as Music for 18 Musicians demonstrates its genuine legitimacy. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

TUNE IN, TURN ON, DROP OUT, BABY.......1999-08-19

Hey you acidheads: this is the bomb. In all seriousness, if any one record has the power to induce an altered and higher state of consciousness, it is Reich's seminal 1978 release on ECM. I spent days with this disc on repeat holed up in a desert apartment when it debuted, and it's amazing how 20 years later it still hold the power to transform and enchant. Indelible!

The first time around still stays with me..........1999-04-30

This is the one! One of ten or so pieces that changed my life (in the way of listening and influences, along with "The Rite of Spring", "Take Five," Webern en masse, and "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" (seriously!)). I even had the pleasure of meeting Steve Reich a few years ago after a concert, asking him to autograph my copy of this disc, and thanking him for writing this (he greatly appreciated it). How this piece changed my life was that it got me listening to music in yet another way (hitting me similarly like Stravinsky, Brubeck, Webern, and Zappa, amongst a host of others). I came across this piece (via LP) almost nine years ago (as of this writing), and I can say without exaggeration that I have been listening to this at least once a week since then. What is it about this piece that often sends me into such a passionate frenzy? To be honest I really cannot say, perhaps it was the timing, a setting, I cannot tell. What I do know though is that this is still by far the best recording of "18" that I have heard (not to take away from the other two that have followed) and it still sounds fresh to my ears as it did then and will still many weeks from now (as of this reading).