scholarly journals The Order of Things. Analysis and Sketch Study in Two Works by Steve Reich

10.31751/1003 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-123
Author(s):  
Twila Bakker ◽  
Pwyll ap Siôn
Keyword(s):  
Steve Reich ◽  
Sketch Study

Process vs. Intuition in the Recent Works of Steve Reich and John Adams

1990 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 245 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Robert Schwarz
Keyword(s):  
John Adams ◽  
Steve Reich

“Machine Fantasies into Human Events”

2019 ◽  
pp. 323-344
Author(s):  
Kerry O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
Assembly Line ◽  
The Body ◽  
Phase Shifting ◽  
Electronic Technology ◽  
Mechanical Control ◽  
Steve Reich ◽  
German Word ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Compositional Control

For most of 1968 and early 1969, Steve Reich devised and constructed his Phase Shifting Pulse Gate, a machine he designed along with an engineer. However, after only two performances Reich abandoned the machine and renounced the future use of electronic technology in his music, save amplification. Despite this compositional move, various critics of the early 1970s continued to describe Reich’s works in technological or mechanical terms, calling his music “controlling” or akin to the German word “Fließband” (assembly line). Rather than mechanical control, Reich claimed to seek bodily control and often compared his musical practice to yoga, a practice he had maintained for nearly a decade, which markedly informed his notions of musical time, compositional control, and performer freedoms. Drawing from unpublished essays and unreleased recordings, this chapter situates Reich’s music of the 1970s—from Drumming to Music for 18 Musicians—within a broader history of technologies of the body and mind.

From World War II to the “War on Terror”

2019 ◽  
pp. 159-176
Author(s):  
Celia Casey
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Creative Process ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The United States ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
World War ◽  
Steve Reich

This chapter investigates aspects of the creative process behind Reich’s “docu-music” work, WTC 9/11 (2010), which constitutes the composer’s response to the terrorist attacks in the United States of America, specifically those in New York City, on September 11, 2001. Sketch materials, including recorded interviews, computer files, and handwritten sketches, belonging to the Steve Reich Collection at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland, reveal how both documentary content and musical design have informed the work. Based on an analysis of these materials, three aspects relating to the creative process of WTC 9/11 are examined: the treatment of speech recordings; the direction of interviews; and structural and referential elements of the work. This chapter not only reveals insights into Reich’s compositional process and techniques but also uncovers other significant factors in the composer’s docu-music approach, such as how autobiographical elements inform his work.

Different Tracks

2019 ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Maarten Beirens
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Steve Reich ◽  
The One

This chapter examines various ways in which Steve Reich set out to shape overall structure in his first two sample-based compositions, Different Trains (1988) and The Cave (1993). Drawing from Reich’s composition sketches held at the Paul Sacher Stiftung (Steve Reich Collection) as well as from analytical observations, the chapter offers an account of several of the decisions involved in shaping the dramaturgical and harmonic structures of these works. The chapter devotes particular attention to a discussion of harmonic devices Reich uses to articulate structure, navigating between the restrictions imposed by the samples used on the one hand, and the unifying logic of a harmonic framework on the other—on both micro and macro levels.

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