Influential composer Steve Reich visits the studio to talk about process with his work, “Runner”, his process music and its layered patterns, and previews a bit of “Reich/Richter” – a massive project that encompasses visual art, film, and music.
The project “Reich/Richter” is a collaboration between artist Gerhard Richter and Steve Reich, with the filmmaker Corinna Belz, and is the first time that Reich has ever written music to a pre-existing film. A study in patterns, Belz scanned an abstract painting by Richter and altered it into psychedelic mirror imaging by dividing and repeating. Reich saw a cut of the film and thought how very like his own musical processes it was, dividing, augmenting and working with interlocking layers.
Listen to a tease of this new large ensemble work “Reich/Richter”, which is pulse-driven and oscillates, like his recent work, “Runner”. “Runner” came about as a nod to a Bollywood film and some rockin’ sixteenth notes in one of the numbers. Reich then thought about the shifting between different musical divisions of a pulse, starting with sixteenth notes and gradually slowing to dotted quarter notes, much like the way a long-distance runner might have to pace themselves and probably doesn’t sprint the entire time. Hear “Runner” as performed by Ensemble Signal.
Also, listen to contrasting and complimentary music by Pultizer Prize-winning composer, violinist, and vocalist Caroline Shaw, as well as work by violinist, vocalist, and composer Emily Wells. Plus, hear music by Australian-born, Liverpool-based composer and saxophonist Daniel Thorne. - Caryn Havlik
Program #4222: With Steve Reich (First aired 4/05/2019)
ARTIST: Ensemble Signal, cond. by Brad Lubman
WORK: Steve Reich: Runner, excerpt [1:00]
RECORDING: Recorded live at the Library of Congress
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available.
ARTIST: Daniel Thorne
WORK: From Inside Looking Out [7:10]
RECORDING: Lines of Sight
SOURCE: Erased Tapes 119
INFO: erasedtapes.com
ARTIST: Ensemble Signal
WORK: Steve Reich: Reich/Richter, excerpt
RECORDING: Rehearsal Recording, April 2019
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available.
ARTIST: Ensemble Signal, cond. by Brad Lubman
WORK: Steve Reich: Runner, first three movements [9:50]
RECORDING: Recorded live at the Library of Congress
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available.
ARTIST: Ensemble Signal, cond. by Brad Lubman
WORK: Steve Reich: Runner, last two movements [6:34]
RECORDING: Recorded live at the Library of Congress
SOURCE/INFO: This performance not commercially available.
ARTIST: Attacca Quartet
WORK: Caroline Shaw: Valencia 5:50
RECORDING: Orange
SOURCE: Nonesuch/New Amsterdam, Due out April 19
INFO: carolineshaw.bandcamp.com | nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Emily Wells
WORK: Hymn For The New World [7:04]
RECORDING: This World is Too _____ For You
SOURCE/INFO: emilywellsmusic.com