gapplegate music review describes the periods in Steve Reich's compositional life:
There were the initial electronic and instrumental process studies (like for instance "Come Out"), the first extended ensemble works ("Four Organs"), an increasing African/Indonesian element ("Drumming"), the injection of a sophisticated melodic inventiveness ("Music for 18 Musicians"), the heightened focus on vocal elements ("Tehillim"), the development of an orchestral palette and introduction of slow movements ("The Desert Music"), the attention to speech elements and how they inflect into musical phrasing ("Different Trains") and on from there. With Reich's 2010 release Double Sextet / 2 X 5(Nonesuch 524853-2) we find him doubling back, in a sense, to the chamber style of his third and fourth periods.
Here's a video that in effect samples the Reich Come Out sample.
I 'm not sure how one inflects things into other things, but...
The first time I had a chance to hear the Double Sextet (It was presentation at University X, with the maestro), I couldn't help but think that this "doubling back," as gapplegate puts it, diminishes the validity of Taruskin's aggrandizement of Reich (Oxford History of Western Music): "[...] Schoenberg (like Cage) purported to liberate sounds, Reich (like a sixties agitator) was out to liberate people" (p372). In my estimation, both these assessments can not coexist, unless Taruskin concedes that a once great liberator can become part of a conservative establishment.
This reminds me of that now commonplace argument that the great 60s experiment had a short shelf life; and many of those who participated woke up, shook off the hangover only to discover some harsh realities.
Posted by: Kevin | January 07, 2011 at 10:22 AM