Steve Reich article in New York Times

["Emile Tobenfeld (a.k.a Dr. T)" <emile@foryourhead.com>]

Hi

Some of you may find this of interest. I did.


At 3 Score and 10, the Music Deepens
By ANNE MIDGETTE

Published: January 28, 2005

teve Reich was sitting in Starbucks: a logical enough place to meet a 
man who has been described as the most caffeinated individual in New 
York. Around him, ambient noise recreated the atmosphere of his 1994 
piece "City Life," which incorporated recordings of pile-drivers, 
snatches of speech and other downtown New York noises. He was talking 
about his latest piece, "You Are (Variations)," which had its 
premiere in October in Los Angeles.
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"There are four movements, four texts," he said. "The first text is 
from Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the most magnetic and mystical of 
Hasidics. One of his sayings was, 'You are wherever your thoughts 
are.' The second movement is in Hebrew, from the Psalms: 'I place the 
Eternal before me.' It's a suggestion for concentrating your thought. 
And whereas in the first movement, harmonically it goes all over the 
map, the way our minds do, the second movement basically works with 
four chords, and that's it. The third movement is Wittgenstein, 
'Explanations come to an end somewhere.' "

This idea led him to a brief exegesis on the course of scientific 
thought: "First there were just atoms, then there were protons and 
neutrons, then there were quarks, and now we're talking about string 
theory. It seems like every 20, 30, 40, 50 years a trapdoor opens and 
another level of reality opens up."

"And the last movement goes back into Hebrew," he concluded. "It's 
sort of a proverb: 'Say little and do much.' "

This may not be the most apposite proverb for Mr. Reich - at least 
not the "say little" part. His ideas emerge in a swift current of 
words, formed by the crisscrossings of different streams of thought - 
not unlike his music, in which ideas are introduced, examined, 
juxtaposed, pursued, rediscovered.

Not that those ideas always move in the directions people expect. His 
explication of his new piece was his way of answering how he felt 
about the approach of his 70th birthday, in October 2006.

It's a time when a person might be expected to wax valedictory. Mr. 
Reich is being honored with a couple of miniretrospectives this 
season: a three-concert series at the Metropolitan Museum (the second 
is tomorrow; the last, on April 2), and a Composer Portrait at the 
Miller Theater (March 25), which will include a performance of one of 
his best-known works, "Drumming," by So Percussion. (A recording of 
the piece by the group will be released on March 11.)

And all of this is just a warmup for the 70th-birthday festivities. 
"New York Counterpoint: New York Celebrates Steve Reich" will involve 
some of the city's major presenting organizations: the Brooklyn 
Academy of Music, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, each relying on 
its particular strengths. Dance performances by Anne Theresa De 
Keersmaeker and Akram Khan will open the Next Wave festival at the 
academy. Carnegie will offer a workshop with Mr. Reich and his 
ensemble coaching young musicians, and present the Kronos Quartet and 
other instrumentalists at Zankel Hall. Lincoln Center will focus on 
the vocal music, including "You Are (Variations)" in its first New 
York performance.

This is all very nice for Mr. Reich, and he certainly isn't one to 
dismiss his old work. But it's the new works that really have his 
attention: especially, "You Are (Variations)."

"It's a piece that I'm extremely happy with," he said, breaking into 
a chuckle of delight.

In a way, explaining his newest piece is the best answer to a 
question about retrospectives. All of Mr. Reich's work, directly or 
indirectly, grows out of the work that has come before. His present, 
you could say, is his past.

"I think Steve is the most focused composer on the planet," said 
David Lang, himself a composer and a co-founder of Bang on a Can. 
(Mr. Reich will be the composer in residence at Bang on a Can's 
summer music institute in North Adams, Mass., affectionately 
nicknamed Banglewood, in July.)

"The things he is doing now are the logical continuations of the 
ideas he started with 40 years ago, reimagined and sometimes 
startlingly recombined," Mr. Lang added. "There are abstract musical 
things he has always wanted to do, and he keeps finding new ways to 
do them."




-- 

"The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two 
opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the 
ability to function."

F. Scott Fitzgerald

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