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classical music:

5 reviews
Steve Reich, Grand Valley State University New Music

Innova, 2007

Repetition is the point
I can't pretend to any particularly deep knowledge of experimental music, but I've dabbled as a student and listener. So when a titan of modern experimental music like Steve Reich acknowledges a recording of one of his own pieces as "a really moving recording of the piece" and "a gorgeous and stunningly accurate CD of Music for 18 Musicians, from the heartland to the heart," I know enough to pay ...

Rainbow in Curved Air

12 reviews
Terry Riley

Sony, 1990

Meditative, with a subtle rhythmic element
I found my first exposure to the music of American minimalist composer Terry Riley (and minimalism as a genre), to be extremely rewarding. As a fan of 1970s progressive rock and electronica, I am a little surprised that I did not explore the genre sooner, given that there is so much overlap between audiences of progressive and minimalism...well, at least there was overlap back when both styles ...

Reich: Different Trains, Electric Counterpoint / Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny

21 reviews
Steve Reich, Pat Metheny

Nonesuch, 1990

Essential Steve Reich
The two works on this disc are essential listening for anyone with even the slightest interest in Steve Reich. For those who don't know the composer, there are perhaps easier places to start - the Music for Mallet Instruments, Octet, Music for 18 Musicians, for instance. It's now nearly 20 years since these pieces were recorded. Different Trains juxtaposes the Kronos Quartet with taped railway ...

Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music Special Edition 3CD + DVD

12 reviews
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Olivier Messiaen, ...

Ellipsis Arts, 2005

A great collection of important works
This is an excellent collection of pre-1980s electronic music. It probably goes without saying, but just to be clear, the music here is part of the academic/experimental music tradition and more popular forms of electronic music such as Kraftwerk or Jean-Jacques Perry are not represented here. There is a great selection of composers here from early musique concrete pioneers like Pierre ...

Tehillim

16 reviews
Steve Reich, George Manahan

Ecm Records, 2000

transcendent minimalism
If you are going to buy Tehillim, which I highly recommend, get this recording, not the one with the red cover, which, while I probably would have been delighted by it if I had heard it first, after hearing this recording seems fatuous, heavy-handed, and gurgling with sloppy emotion, the singers mooing away with their faces screwed up in the high-art version of teenager-guitar-hero-face.

Early Works

11 reviews
Steve Reich, Double Edge

Nonesuch, 1992

Timeless Minimalism!!
"Early Works" collects four of composer Steve Reich's earliest examples of minimalist music for both tapeloops and actual musical instruments. Listening to these early pieces is quite fascinating and offers a glimpse of what was to come in the music world more than 35 years later. The first piece on the disc, "Come Out" was created in 1966 as part of a benefit for six youngsters who were arrested ...

Sextet/Six Marimbas

8 reviews
Steve Reich, Manhattan Marimba Quartet, ...

Nonesuch, 1992

Great CD
Great cd, two great pieces by a master of the style. I write this review to rather pedantically correct other reviewers in that it is a bowed *vibraphone*, not bowed *marimba*, used to such interesting effect in the 'Sextet', as is made clear in the liner notes.

Riley: In C

7 reviews
Terry Riley, Paul Hillier, ...

Da Capo [Naxos], 2007

Don't miss this version!
I don't have much to add to the other two reviews currently posted here: this is a gorgeous, must-hear version of this seminal work of minimalism. I'm writing this mainly to point out that amazon is selling the entire work as a 256kbs mp3 download for a mere 99 cents. At that price, you can't go wrong! Buy it!

Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

32 reviews
Composer: Steve Reich, Performer: Steve Reich Ensemble

Ecm Records, 2000

Probably the best version around of this hypnotizing work
This release caused quite a stir when it originally appeared, and it is still a remarkable performance of a remarkable work. I think I would recommend newcomers to Reich's style to start with a later work - Different Trains would be an obvious choice - but you cannot, in the end, get around this hypnotic, straight out weird work. It won't ever be for everyone (again as opposed to his later work) ...

Steve Reich: Octet; Music for a Large Ensemble; Violin Phase

6 reviews
Lewis Paer, Judith Sugarman, ...

Ecm Records, 2000

Some of Reich's best works
Octet and Music for a Large Ensemble are two of my favorite Steve reich works. Octet has lots of low winds and piano, giving it a lot of charm and textural warmth. Music for a Large Ensemble has more of an urgent feel, more of a piercing texture at times, and is also a beautiful piece (one of his best, I think). If you like Reich's earlier style, along the lines of Music for Eighteen Musicians, ...

Steve Reich Eight Lines: City Life

4 reviews
Steve Reich, Ensemble Modern

RCA, 2003

Fantastic...
These are brilliant renditions, which inject a new feeling into the pieces, as well as staying faithful to the original recordings. The sound is brilliant, and allows a listener to become engaged in the processes that Reich is famous for.

Steve Reich: You Are (Variations)

14 reviews
Maya Beiser, Steve Reich, ...

Nonesuch, 2005

A Joyful Noise!
Many years ago I saw a performance of Steve Reich's "Drumming". I remember it exciting me. But it's not the kind of music you walk out humming, certainly not if you're a near layperson like I. So I didn't think much more about Steve Reich until hearing a report on NPR about the Steve Reich Festival in New York celebrating his 75th birthday. I got motivated and ordered this CD. And what a ...

Steve Reich: Phases [Box Set]

3 reviews
Donald Palma, Maya Beiser, ...

Nonesuch, 2006

A Steve Reich 70th Birthday Present from Nonesuch
If you are a big Steve Reich fan, you probably already have most or all of these recordings. These are not rarities, PHASES is not for collectors -- this 5-disc box is aimed at those of us who have been curious, but not convinced enough to buy multiple Reich recordings. I, for instance, consider MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS to be a masterpiece of late 20th century music (the original ECM recording), ...

Steve Reich: The Four Sections / Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices & Organ

7 reviews
Steve Reich, Michael Tilson Thomas, ...

Nonesuch, 1990

An audience-pleaser
A CD intended as an audience-pleaser. Both pieces are Steve Reich saying "Thank you" to his fans & trying to win over a few more, while also advancing his ideas. Four Sections was composed for Michael Tilson Thomas, so this performace will always be the root definitive. That the London Symphony Orchestra performed it so beautifully, as part of a Reich retrospective in 1988 was also a ...

Precipice: Modern Marimba [Hybrid SACD]

3 reviews
Philip Glass, Allan Schindler, ...

Albany Records, 2006

Thank you Nathaniel Bartlett
I am not comfortable writing reviews. Just wanted to take a moment and thank Nathaniel Bartlett for recording -Precipice- It's been a while since I got this CD. There are some CDs that are like new toys... When you get over the newness you never play with them again. I find that I still reach for this SACD in the quiet hours. Opening is my favorite Thank you

Barber: Agnus Dei (An American Collection)

1 review
Samuel Barber, Irving Fine, ...

Coro, 2005

Beautiful and hard to find
I searched numerous local CD shops for this title, which I knew from the BBC Music magazine. It more than fulfills the time and effort I spent trying to obtain it. The performances are clear and extremely restful to me.

Discover Music of the 20th Century

4 reviews
Roger Heaton, Claude Debussy, ...

Naxos, 2005

For the price you can't lose
This 2 cd set consists of, as the title indicates, various 20c pieces or movements from the Naxos catalog. Sound quality is uniformly high, although for some such as Stockhausen's it's not clear if that's good or bad. What is excellent is the variety of the collection--some familiar (Debussy), others not, some pretty, others intentionally weird. Few will find every piece to his or her taste, ...

Catrin Finch: Crossing the Stone

5 reviews
Johann Sebastian Bach, Chick Corea, ...

Sony, 2003

A Towering Musical Achievement
While biographies disguised as reviews are tiresome, some background is in order, in this case. At the age of 23, Catrin Finch has been playing the harp for 18 years. She was appearing on British television and with major orchestras by the time she was 10, and was appointed the Royal Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales (a.k.a. Prince Charles) at the age of 20. Bottom line: This lady has more ...

Drumming

16 reviews
Steve Reich, Bob Becker, ...

Deutsche Grammophon, 2003

A philosophical work
I first heard "Drumming" on my car radio (of all places, of course it was probably WBAI-FM in New York) when it first came out in the early seventies. I pulled over to the side of the road to listen, so hypnotic was its rhythm. I have the original three-LP Deutch Grammophone version (the third disk contains two other pieces), which I put on tonight for the first time in many years, and came here ...

25 Years: Retrospective

6 reviews
Suzanne Elder, Paul Hillier, ...

Nonesuch, 1998

How Could You Not Listen?
My opinion pales when compared to this CD. Indeed the group's ingeniousness, its knowing and its balls are in full display here, hopefully to put to rest any lingering contention that there is little more to Kronos than form. To any person who accepts the merits of 20th-century music, this CD presents the genius of our culture and teaches that daring and ingenuity do not have to be ...

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