Steve Reich Week-long Concert Party in London. Next Stop, Carnegie Hall in October.
Posted by Todd Reynolds on October 11, 2006
One week, One big big party. Steve Reich turned 70. Here are some rehearsal pix of the prep for Daniel Variations, Steve’s new piece about Daniel Pearl, the tragically-killed journalist in Iraq. There is so much to the story, both Daniel Pearl’s, and the composition itself. Read more about it here. Brad and I felt privileged as we always do to play the music and to be part of the history-making. Several standing-ovations later, and simply teary-eyed from from being part of some great music-making, we’re once again reminded that this is a master of form and of rhythm, of simplicity and complexity all at once, and at 70 years, making some of the best music of his career. Let no one tell you it’s unemotional or at the same time unintellectual. That’s ignorance.
We weren’t able to nick a recording, but we hope you’ll hear it soon, in fact we hope we record it soon. The 1st pic is from The Cave, the second from the London Underground. Pics from Ben Rubin. Thanks, Ben
Diarmuid Fitzgerald said
I was at the world premier of the new Reich piece the Daniel Variations in London in October 2006. If it’s ok I would like to give my initial reaction to the piece. But first let me say thatI have been a Reich fan for the last 10 years and I am familiar with most of his output from It’s Goin’ to Rain.
What struck me most was how much the Daniel Variatons had in common with You Are (Variations) in terms of style, structure and general musical impression. Both pieces are quite similar yet different. You Are is quite joyous in parts and equally dark in certain areas especially in the 1st movement which is very dissonant for Reich. The Daniel Variations are much more sombre even sad than You Are. This is not a quality one would normally associate with Reich but given the inspiration behind the music I suppose it’s appropriate that the piece is sombre. Overall the music sounds quite homogenous with not very distinct divisions between the 4 movements. There was one very interesting moment at the start of the 2nd movement where the singers started singing in canon but it soon stopped. What a pity. One of the things I love of Reich is his use of canon especially in such works as Tehillim.
Another thing that struck me was despite the vocals the acoustic instruments dominated the piece to the extent that the voices where somewhat over shadowed. The strings, pianos and the vibes were all clearly audible as where the voices but I could not at all hear the clarinets nor the tam-tam and the drum kit. I wonder why they where included in the piece since I couldn’t here a single note through out the entire piece.
On a lighter note there was some unplanned moments of hilarity just before the music began. As the musician assembled to perform the piece it was noticed that the 2 clarinettists were missing. They just suddenly appeared around the corner from a different part of the venue. It caused peals of laughter.
I’m still not sure of what I think of the new piece but I am eagerly awaiting the release of a recording so that I can become familiar with it. I’m sure it will prove rewarding as does most of Reich pieces do.
todd reynolds said
Mr. Fitzgerald…
Thank you for posting! Your review is most appreciated. I hope Brad will also reply to your entry, but i’ll start here with the continuing hilarity which you did NOT mention. The entrance of the group after intermission, for Music for 18, began with a solo entrance from the two clarinetists to complete the loop. Yes, a great moment as you’ve mentioned. And even more hilarious was the fact that tehy appeared on stage the first time with their axes still in case. I think some clarinet jokes were in order, but i have none. Only Viola jokes and the occasional Accordion and Trombone.
As to your comments on the new piece, it is indeed interesting that this seems to be the first sobering Reich that we’ve encountered in quite a while, and I remember at the beginning of the first rehearsal standing there with Brad and Steve as he recounted the origin of many of his decisions regarding the piece. These are included in the program notes for the concert, which are in turn linked to in the original blog post. Really interesting stuff. I also listened to You Are for the first time this past week, and I do not actually see the similarities, unless it is simply in form. Steve’s arcs have been similar is many compositions. Given that i have no recording of You Are, I will have to wait as well for a recording to examine the two to look at your assessment. I’ll look forward to that. Brad might have more to say, as he is conducting the piece soon, i believe.
Next, a couple of notes about balance and orchestration. You might find it interesting to note that this is one of the first performances i can remember since becoming a member of the ensemble in 1990 that we’ve done a piece which was mixed primarily acoustically. Steve basically pulled most of the mics out of the mix, save the voices and a few strings and winds. So the man himself was mixing back there and his choices to create more of a timbre out of the unisons between vox, string and wind does not surprise me at all, nor does the apparent disappearance of invididuality there in. I myself find that on stage i can’t differentiate between these elements, and in fact, since i play mostly with the alto, i make it my goal to melt into her sound, and when it works (which is nearly 100% with THIS vocal crew) it is very rewarding.
On the other hand, if you lost text, lost understanding, then i’d have to agree that the voices could have been mixed higher. The unison orchestration which contributes to the overall timbral environment is an expected device in the music, however, as you know from your knowledge of much Reich of the past.
Anyway, my two cents for you, and once again, thank you for posting your review. Bests, Todd Reynolds
phestheonnego said
Heh. Nice. Do you understand my worthless contempt A joke for you! What has more lives than a cat? A frog. It croaks every night.