Here we have a man with a profound and almost mythological reputation, at least for a young composer from a small country like me. A man who´s reference reads:
"Reich has been described, in The Guardian by music critic Andrew Clements, as one of "a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history" and the critic Kyle Gann has said Reich "may...be considered, by general acclamation, America's greatest living composer."
(wikipedia)
I will cut right to the point. He was not the way I thought he would be, wich is a good thing. In my experience (as far as that goes) minimalists are often quite "dry" or "arid" if I may be so bold. What do I mean by that? They approach music in the most mathematical or "square" way. I, being more of a poetical/lyrical/romantical composer (whatever you wich to call it) do not find that very interesting. I do though find it helpful now and then to integrate some of the minimalistic ideology/techniques into my music making process as an effect without it becoming the main idea.
Therefor I thought naturally that Reich, being the "king" of minimalism (along with Phillip Glass), would be no different. Still, I saw it as a great oppertunity to maybe learn a thing or 2 about the "bizz" and maybe something in general about the science of music from the eyes (ears) of a world-known composer.
Then we meet this easygoing, humorous and warm man who is all but "dry" and "arid". My favorite moment was when he said early on:
"How many composers are there in the room?"
[everyone raises hand]
[Steve looks surprised, then puts his hand on his chest and says]
"my condolences"
[everyone laughs]
[Short pause][Then he says firmly]
"Do excatly what you love to do, and nothing else!"
[He looks over the room, intence 2-3 sec. silence]
That was very powerful and has given me more confidence to write "my kind" of music. Being a young composer is very hard these days. Having the pressure of being "original" (whatever that is these days) and the masters of old looking over your sholders ... it can be very inflictive.
So, that small comment of his came as a fresh breeze in this composition-sauna wich we are all trying to survive within.
WTC 9/11
Mainly he talked about his newest piece; WTC 9/11, written for String Quartet and Tape. That piece is very minimalistic but still so rich. Mostly due to it´s connection to the 9/11 attacks. He uses his techniques of "Speech melodies", taking the speech´s texture and transforming it into melody.
The first movement, 9/11/01, begins and ends with a violin imitating the sound a phone makes when left off the hook. Voice recordings in this section begin with NORAD air traffic controllers concerned with the off-track American Airlines Flight 11, and move to FDNY recordings related to activities on the ground. Voice recordings in the second movement consist of parts of interviews conducted in 2010 by Reich.[Wikipedia]
Here is the 1st mov.
Here is a nice and short article about Reich in the Guardian to mark his 75th birthday this august, if you want to know more.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2011/aug/09/steve-reich-75-classical-music
