Latest news with #SteveReich
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Steve Reich: Jacob's Ladder; Traveler's Prayer album review – at nearly 90, he's as energetic as ever
Three months ago, Nonesuch brought out an updated version of its superbly comprehensive survey of Steve Reich's collected works. The 27 discs included the first recordings of Reich's most recent scores, Traveler's Prayer and Jacob's Ladder, and now, for those who already owned the set from its previous incarnation, it has released those two works together on their own. Both pieces were composed during the Covid lockdown, and are scored for four singers and an instrumental ensemble; in both cases, too, they have Hebrew texts taken from the Old Testament. In almost every other respect, though, the two pieces are very different. Traveler's Prayer, first performed in 2021, is meditative and static, floating, almost ritualised. Those who associate Reich's music with insistent rhythmic movement will find little of that here, and Reich has described the result as 'closer to Josquin des Prez than Stravinsky'. The long, sinuously intertwining vocal lines for the pairs of sopranos and tenors make constant use of canons, yet harmonically the music stays rooted to the spot, without the magical shifts of tonality that give so much of Reich's music its allure. Jacob's Ladder, though, returns immediately to the propulsive, exuberant Reich, as the words from Genesis describing Jacob's vision of a ladder to heaven are intoned by the vocalists over busy, insistent string and wind figures whose gently clashing dissonances add just a little edge to the textures. This buoyant music is joyously, inexhaustibly energetic; it's hard to believe it was composed by a man who will be 90 next year. This article includes content hosted on We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click 'Allow and continue'. Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify
Times
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Hallé/Currie review — Jonny Greenwood helps to launch Manchester Classical
Far from the madding crowd at Glastonbury, one pop luminary at least decided to head for Manchester instead at the weekend. Tucked at the back of the Hallé Orchestra in the Bridgewater Hall was a familiar figure in studious thick-rimmed specs, hair flopping over furrowed brow as he concentrated on pumping out the bass guitar line and (a novelty in the pop world) counting the bars of rests in Steve Reich's 2015 work Pulse. Yes, Jonny Greenwood was in the house to launch Manchester Classical. It was a weekend aimed at banging the drum for all the orchestras, chamber groups and music education institutions in the city (and even to welcome the chorus of English National Opera, which may or may not be resident in Manchester from 2029) with more than a dozen concerts spread over 48 hours. Greenwood, of course, is as much an orchestral composer these days as a pop performer with Radiohead, and very courteous about acknowledging how his own work has been influenced by other composers. Reich, whose music was showcased in this opening concert, is one of them — and apparently the admiration flows both ways. In 2012 the veteran American minimalist (90 next year) incorporated two Radiohead songs into a piece called Radio Rewrite. • Jonny Greenwood reveals his debt to Steve Reich Pity that this concert didn't include it, or indeed anything else involving Greenwood, who shuffled off after the 15 minutes of Pulse and wasn't seen again. Under the expert direction of the virtuoso percussionist Colin Currie, however, the Hallé players still managed to pack many sides of Reich into little more than an hour. Currie himself, joined by the Hallé's principal percussionist David Hext, opened with Clapping Music, that brilliant exercise in out-of-sync rhythmic phasing, written in 1972, that lays bare the basic code of early minimalism. In its skeletal purity it couldn't be further removed from Pulse, which weaves luscious, wistful counterpoints of strings and woodwinds over a gently throbbing bass line, beginning and ending with a gentle spaciousness reminiscent of Aaron Copland. • Read more music reviews, interviews and guides on what to listen to next Two other pieces filled out the programme. The 2016 piece Runner was so named, Reich said, because the conductor must get the pace of its Ghanaian-influenced rhythms exactly right, like a long-distance runner, to guide the players safely through. No problem for Currie here. And the sparky 2005 work Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings was performed with terrific verve. No programmes or programme notes, either printed or online. No announcements of which piece was which. If the point of Manchester Classical is to entice newcomers to this musical world, that's a strange way to go about it.★★★★☆Follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
CBS News
18-06-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Former agent of Penguins great Mario Lemieux, Steve Reich, dies at 64
The Penguins expressed their condolences after the passing of the man who represented several Penguins' greats, including Mario Lemieux. Steve Reich, who represented Lemieux, Ron Francis, Tom Barrasso, and Kevin Stevens. "The Penguins join so many in the hockey world mourning the loss of NHL agent, Steve Reich," the Penguins said in a statement. "Steve was a staple in Pittsburgh sports, representing some of the biggest names in Penguins' history, including Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, and Tom Barrasso. Our thoughts are with is family, friends, and clients that were fortunate to call Steve a friend." According to Reich's obituary on Ever Loved, he died on Sunday from a heart attack while golfing with friends at South Hills Country Club. Reich was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Pittsburgh, graduating from Chartiers Valley High School in 1979 and going on to Bucknell University, where he majored in English Literature. He then returned to Pittsburgh, where he went to the University of Pittsburgh's law school. His career as a sports agent began in 1987, and he ultimately became the president of RBRT Sports Group in 1993. In that time, he represented several high-profile athletes. Reich is survived by his father Sam, sister Hillary, brother Joe, wife Tanya, and his children Arlene, Jack, and Estelle. He was 64 years old. A memorial will be held at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh this week, and his family said in lieu of flowers, "Steve would have wanted you to spend time with your friends or family over some tasty treats."
Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
In C review — barefoot dancers spark joy from a minimalist masterpiece
Minimalist music and postmodern dance — which both originated in the 1960s — were made for each other. The insistent pulse, rhythmic architecture and hypnotic meditative state of composers such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich have been catnip to choreographers, from Lucinda Childs to Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and beyond. Now, in her 21st-century work, the German dancemaker Sasha Waltz winds back the clock to 1964, when Terry Riley's landmark In C announced the birth of minimalism. Her dance, presented at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London as part of the Southbank Centre's Multitudes festival, follows the template of Riley's music, played here by a dozen members of the London Sinfonietta on stage next to the dancers. The score comprises 53 sequential phrases that
BBC News
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Documentary Podcast In the Studio: Steve Reich
For 60 years, New York composer Steve Reich has been one of classical music's most celebrated revolutionaries. Pioneering minimalism in the 1960s, a musical style based on repetition and shifting rhythms, his strange experiments with cassette tape led to orchestral masterpieces – now performed around the world. His career has not only helped define the latest era of classical music, but had an enormous influence on pop, rock and electronica. He has helped shape 20th Century music in a way few can claim to match. To mark 60 years since his first major piece,1965's It's Gonna Rain, he takes Alastair Shuttleworth through the process and stories behind some of his greatest works, including Clapping Music, Different Trains and City Life. He also reflects on his legacy, his plans for the future and what, at the age of 88, still inspires him to compose
