Steve Reich's music was a focal point of the South by Southwest festival's first-ever classical music showcase, Reich, Rags, & Road Movies: Music by Steve Reich & Friends, Wednesday night. Austin360 says it was "a hit." The first half of the program included works by Reich, John Adams, and Elliott Carter; the second was all Reich. In Austin, the Wall Street Journal spoke with Reich about his forthcoming Nonesuch CD, Daniel Variations.
Steve Reich's music was a focal point of the South by Southwest festival's first-ever classical music showcase, Reich, Rags, & Road Movies: Music by Steve Reich & Friends, Wednesday night. Austin360's local music-scene blog, "Music Source," says it was "a hit." Randy Harriman reports from the show that the packed house "responded enthusiastically."
The first half of the program included John Adams's Road Movies; works by Michael Torke and Elliott Carter; and Reich's New York Counterpoint, performed by the San Antonio-based SOLI chamber ensemble. The second half was devoted entirely to Reich's music, with a performance of Electric Counterpoint by guitarist C. E. Whalen and four pieces played by New York's So Percussion ensemble: Music for Pieces of Wood, Nagoya Marimbas, Drumming, and Clapping Music. Writes Harriman:
The highlights of the evening had to be the Reich pieces played by So Percussion. Who would have thought that sticks and human hands could move at the speed of hummingbird wings---literally turning into blurs, from which emerged amazing sounds?
To read the full report, visit austin360.com.
The Wall Street Journal's music critic Jim Fusilli reports from Austin as well, speaking with Reich about his forthcoming Nonesuch CD, Daniel Variations, due out April 8. To read the details of their discussion, visit blogs.wsj.com/sxsw.
