Steve Reich
Overview
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich (icon; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer who together with La Monte Young
, Terry Riley
, and Philip Glass
is a pioneering composer of minimal music. His innovations include using tape loop
s to create phasing
patterns (examples are his early compositions, "It's Gonna Rain
" and "Come Out
"), and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts (for instance, "Pendulum Music
" and "Four Organs
"). These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, have significantly influenced contemporary music, especially in the US.
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
, and Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
is a pioneering composer of minimal music. His innovations include using tape loop
Tape loop
In music, tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound. Contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Karlheinz Stockhausen used tape loops to create phase patterns and rhythms...
s to create phasing
Phasing
In the compositional technique phasing, the same part is played on two musical instruments, in steady but not identical tempo...
patterns (examples are his early compositions, "It's Gonna Rain
It's Gonna Rain
It's Gonna Rain is a minimalist musical composition for magnetic tape written by Steve Reich in 1965. It lasts approximately 17 minutes and 50 seconds. It was Reich's first major work and a landmark in minimalism and process music.-Analysis:...
" and "Come Out
Come Out (Reich)
Come Out is a 1966 piece by American composer Steve Reich. He was asked to write this piece to be performed at a benefit for the retrial of the Harlem Six, six black youths arrested for committing a murder during the Harlem Riot of 1964 for which only one of the six was responsible...
"), and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts (for instance, "Pendulum Music
Pendulum Music
"Pendulum Music " is the name of a work by Steve Reich, involving suspended microphones and speakers, creating phasing feedback tones. The piece was composed in August 1968 and revised in May 1973....
" and "Four Organs
Four Organs
Four Organs is a work for four electronic organs and maraca, composed by Steve Reich in January 1970.-Music:The four organs, harmonically expound a dominant eleventh chord , dissecting the chord by playing parts of it sequentially while the chord slowly increases in duration from a single 1/8 note...
"). These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, have significantly influenced contemporary music, especially in the US.
Quotations
What I don't want to do is to go and buy a bunch of exotic-looking drums and set up an Afrikanische Musik in New York City.
I discovered that the most interesting music of all was made by simply lining the loops in unison, and letting them slowly shift out of phase with other...
...in serial music, the series itself is seldom audible... What I'm interested in is a compositional process and a sounding music that are one in the same thing.