Watch: Steve Reich Talks American Music for 'America at 250' Series

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"It's a real break. It's a real historical break from, like, anything goes ... to suddenly no, I want one chord," composer Steve Reich says of the cultural shift in his lifetime to new musical ideas by American composers, in a new video from Boosey & Hawkes for its America at 250 series. "I want to be able to hear the details that come out of staying put. It isn't recognized what a change happened in my lifetime. I'm proud, delighted, and pleased to have been a part of it." You can see what else he had to say here.

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"It's a real break. It's a real historical break from, like, anything goes ... to suddenly no, I want one chord," composer Steve Reich says of the cultural shift in his lifetime to new musical ideas by American composers, in a new video from Boosey & Hawkes for its America at 250 series ahead of the country's semiquincentennial in 2026. "I want to be able to hear the details that come out of staying put. It isn't recognized what a change happened in my lifetime. I'm proud, delighted, and pleased to have been a part of it." You can see what else he had to say here:

The first recordings of Steve Reich’s Runner (2016) and Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (2018), performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted by Susanna Mälkki, were released on Nonesuch in 2022. The New York Times calls Runner “a calmly luminous orchestral piece with the pulsating, propulsive rhythms that animate much of Mr. Reich’s music.” The San Francisco Chronicle says that Music for Ensemble and Orchestra “is a beautiful and dramatically charged masterpiece, but its impact goes even further than that.” Released earlier that year was the first recording of Reich/Richter, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson. "Reminiscent of his earliest work," says the Financial Times, "it is very beautiful."

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Steve Reich: 'America at 250,' July 2024
  • Monday, July 29, 2024
    Watch: Steve Reich Talks American Music for 'America at 250' Series
    Boosey & Hawkes

    "It's a real break. It's a real historical break from, like, anything goes ... to suddenly no, I want one chord," composer Steve Reich says of the cultural shift in his lifetime to new musical ideas by American composers, in a new video from Boosey & Hawkes for its America at 250 series ahead of the country's semiquincentennial in 2026. "I want to be able to hear the details that come out of staying put. It isn't recognized what a change happened in my lifetime. I'm proud, delighted, and pleased to have been a part of it." You can see what else he had to say here:

    The first recordings of Steve Reich’s Runner (2016) and Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (2018), performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conducted by Susanna Mälkki, were released on Nonesuch in 2022. The New York Times calls Runner “a calmly luminous orchestral piece with the pulsating, propulsive rhythms that animate much of Mr. Reich’s music.” The San Francisco Chronicle says that Music for Ensemble and Orchestra “is a beautiful and dramatically charged masterpiece, but its impact goes even further than that.” Released earlier that year was the first recording of Reich/Richter, performed by Ensemble intercontemporain and conducted by George Jackson. "Reminiscent of his earliest work," says the Financial Times, "it is very beautiful."

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