You also notice 3 marimbas, 2 xylophones and a metallophone. When the percussionists enter they are joined by a violinist, a cellist, 2 clarinetists and 4 singers.
What, indeed, are you about to hear?
It could only be Steve Reich’s epic, hour-long Music for Eighteen Musicians, premiered in April, 1976, at New York’s Town Hall. It changed music forever and, hearing it two nights ago, it continues to involve and move an audience.
Richard Scheinin, writing for the Mercury News in 2013 said:
I love this piece to death, feel a long and deep attachment to it, even attended a 1976 pre-premiere performance of it by Reich's ensemble at a Soho loft. It was one of those "wow" experiences, and, 37 years later, I found myself nodding in agreement with Steven Schick, the Contemporary Music Players' artistic director, who discussed "Music for 18 Musicians" in a pre-concert talk at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He called it "one of the great pieces of the 20th century."
I have not known 18 Musicians for quite 37 years but I have loved it for decades and was thrilled to hear it live for only the second time on Tuesday night. It was part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Nonesuch Records at BAM Festival, which included an historic three night reunion of two American titans, Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Both are known as great writers of minimalist music, a term neither uses.
It was at the Virginia Museum Theatre in the early 80s that I first heard Philip Glass. I don’t remember who I was with or how I came to be there, but the concert transformed me. I had not known that “classical” music could be so intense, so complicated, so LOUD. Some in the audience hated it; I couldn’t get enough. When he released Songs for Liquid Days in 1986 I ate it up, playing it over and over. Later I saw Twyla Tharp’s company dance In the Upper Room and I was ready to swear allegiance to the god that was Glass.
My connection to Steve Reich is more personal. His 1982 composition Vermont Counterpoint was written for my husband and was the first piece I ever heard Ransom play. It’s a piece I still love and I was sorry it was not on the program at BAM, but clearly these three evenings were focused on ensemble work.
When I first heard about these concerts months ago I went online to buy a ticket to one. I realized that almost nothing was to be repeated; each night had a set list differing from the other nights. What could I do but buy tickets for all three — cheap seats in the balcony, with hundreds of 20-something hip Brooklynites.
Each concert was perfect. Music for 18 Musicians was brilliant, but the Philip Glass pieces before it were all exciting too. Four Organs, which opened both the first and second night, was new to me but I was quickly enchanted and especially loved the fact that Glass (right) and Reich were two of the organists.
Drumming was the the audience favorite from night two, but for me that honor goes to the selection from In the Upper Room. As I implied above, it’s a dance piece I love; I've seen it many times by Twyla Tharp, ABT, Juilliard Dance and others, and have listened to it dozens of times.
The emotional heart of the final night was, naturally, WTC 9/11, as it was Thursday, 9/11/2014, when we heard it. The short silence that greeted the finish was likely the audience’s stunned reaction to what we had just heard and what we had all remembered. Very powerful stuff.
If you don’t know this music I invite you to give it a try. I have an unnamed friend — are you with me, Phil? — who HATES this music, and I know others who are bored by it. I am rocked by it. In fact, one of the thoughts I had repeatedly in Brooklyn was that these musicians go about their business with no histrionics and with little movement except when they are switching instruments and yet create a sound fuller and just as loud as many thrashing rock bands. "A Wall of Sound" Phil Spector might say. A towering wall.
Below is a list of the three night’s programs. I’ve linked some of them to samples online. Check them out — but be sure to either wear good headphones or run it through a strong sound system. As Lynyrd Skynyrd would say, “Turn it up.” And if you don’t like the first couple of minutes of something, give it time. This music is filled with illuminating ear worms that might just burrow into your brain as they have mine. An easy start is Façades form Glassworks.
Here's a link to Anthony Tommasini's New York Times's review of the first concert; he discusses the music far more intelligently, and specifically, than I can.
September 9
Four Organs
by Steve Reich
Performed by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Nico Muhly, Timo Andres, and percussionist David Cossin
the CIVIL warS: “Cologne” excerpt
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Music in Twelve Parts: Parts 1 & 2
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Akhnaten: Act 1, Scene 1, “Funeral of Amenhotep III”
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Music for 18 Musicians
by Steve Reich
Performed by Steve Reich and Musicians
September 10
Four Organs
(as above)
Drumming
by Steve Reich
Performed by Steve Reich and Musicians
Music in Similar Motion
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble with Steve Reich
In the Upper Room: Dance IX
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Einstein on the Beach: Act 4, Scene 1, "Building"
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Powaqqatsi: “Mosque and Temple”
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Koyaanisqatsi: “The Grid”
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
The Photographer: Act III
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
September 11
Clapping Music
by Steve Reich
Performed by Steve Reich and Russell Hartenberger
Piano Phase/Video Phase (1967/2002)
by Steve Reich
Performed by David Cossin
WTC 9/11
by Steve Reich
Performed by Steve Reich and Musicians
Sextet
by Steve Reich
Performed by Steve Reich and Musicians
Music in Similar Motion
(as above)
Glassworks: “Floe” “Façades” and “Rubric”
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Symphony No. 1 "Low": II, “Some Are”
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
Einstein on the Beach: Act 4, Scene 3, “Spaceship”
by Philip Glass
Performed by the Philip Glass Ensemble
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