Freiburg Musicians Play Steve Reich

courtesy of Naxos of America

About two month’s ago Naxos released an album consisting entirely of music by Steve Reich as part of its American Classics series. This included the world premiere recording of one of Reich’s earliest compositions, “Music for Two or More Pianos,” composed in 1964, probably before he started working with the facilities of the San Francisco Tape Music Center and also most likely before he participated in the premiere performance of Terry Riley’s “In C.” This is the opening track on the CD; and it is followed by the much later (1979) “Eight Lines.” This later composition is one of several reflecting how Reich reworked techniques he had first developed by working with tape loops, applying them, instead, to the performance of conventional musical instruments.

The next two selections come from his “Counterpoint” series of compositions, in which his earlier pieces for ensembles give way to focusing on individual instruments. Those two pieces are “Vermont Counterpoint” for flutes and “New York Counterpoint” for clarinets. The album then concludes with “City Life,” which returns to tape music by adding recorded sounds to supplement instrumental ensembles.

Taken as a whole, the album provides a stimulating survey of instances of invention that emerged in the United States during the second half of the twentieth century. Ironically, all of the performances were recorded in Freiburg in Germany. The performers are members of the Holst-Sinfonietta, founded and conducted by Klaus Simon and named after the English composer Gustav Holst. I suppose the good news from this is that we are beginning to see a rise in performances of Reich’s music that do not arise from direct contact with the composer.

Personally, I am very glad to see Reich rise to this level of status. Since I live in San Francisco, I have enjoyed any number of opportunities to listen to his music performed in concert; and I shall always prefer those opportunities to recordings. Nevertheless, I fear that there are only a few limited locations where Reich receives so much attention, meaning that recordings are the only viable alternative. From a technical point of view, the recordings on this recent Naxos release allow the attentive listener to appreciate both the intricate details and the overall effect when those details are superposed. While I question the booklet’s effort to identify jazz pianist Bill Evans as one of Reich’s influences, the music itself matters more than any of the commentary.