Steve Reich
with Ev Grimes
New York, N.Y.
December 15-16, 1987
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side a pp. 1-15
Family musical background--life as a young child--Roland Kohloff--Kenny Clark--The Rite of Spring--classical music and neoclassicism--musical explorations--Cornell University--Wittgenstein and philosophy--William Austin--Hall Overton--his music style of the late 50s and early 60s--composition teachers--Vincent Persichetti--Luciano Berio--African music--pitch charts--Music for Piano and Tape--California and the West Coast--Terry Riley--In C--It’s Gonna Rain.
Side b pp. 15-28
It’s Gonna Rain--John Coltrane--John Cage--Come Out and the Harlem 6--Truman Nelson--his tape music--first concert of his works--Arthur Murphy--Park Place Gallery--Phil Glass--Piano Phase--Come Out--live music and the Ensemble--Larry Owens--Four Organs.
Side c pp. 28-42
Come Out--othe tape music--My Name Is--Pendulum Music--New Mexico--William T. Wylie--theater pieces--Phase Patterns--Ghana, Africa--Gideon Alorwoye and the African influence--the Ashantis--sickness and the trip back to New York--Drumming--Russell Hartenberger--The Steve Reich Musicians--Michael Tilson Thomas and the Boston Symphony--Pierre Boulez--1971 and the premiere of Drumming--Michael Nyman--London and Paris tours--teaching at the New School, and the School of Visual Arts.
Side d pp. 42-55
A summary of 1971--Clapping Music--Brussels--the introduction of clapping patterns and phasing out the phasing technique--1973 and numerous pieces--Jack Romann and the Baldwin Company--Six Pianos--phase shifting technique--combining all pieces together--Music for Mallet Instruments--music that worked, and that which didn’t--a step backwards into Western traditional thinking--1973--specific performances with his ensemble--Music for Pieces of Wood--Music for Eighteen Musicians--his Jewish heritage.
Side e pp. 55-63
Johanna Spector--his trip to Israel--accent marks and their functions--the cantillation technique--Tehillim and Octet--performances of Music for Eighteen Musicians, and its release on record--a lack of compositional material--music without conductors.
Side f pp. 63-77
His first commissioned piece, Music for a Large Ensemble--Eight Lines--Octet and its recordings--choreographing his music--Laura Dean--Sextet--Jerome Robbins--Anna Theresa de Keersmaeker--the influence of dance--music of the late 70s and early 80s--Tehillim, music with a Jewish tradition.
Side g pp. 77-89
Tehillim--Ransom Wilson and Vermont Counterpoint--The Desert Music and William Carlos Williams’ poem, The Orchestra.
Side h pp. 89-103
The Desert Music, the setting of the text, and its first performances--Music for Percussion and Keyboard--differences in his later compositions from earlier ones--Sextet--New York Counterpoint, a piece for clarinet--the St. Louis Symphony and Three Movements--Michael Tilson Thomas and a concerto for orchestra--Pat Metheny.
Side i pp. 103-110
Electric Counterpoint--a commission for the Kronos Quartet--music for his own ensemble--the meaning of music for him--minimalism.
AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES OHV 186 j-k
Steve Reich
With Dorothy Horowitz
New York, NY
January 17, 1990
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side j: pp. 1-22
Religious exploration--Rabbi Buchwald and study of Hebrew--Eight Lines as musical result of religious study--seeing cantillation marks--tracing roots of musical tradition--listening to Yemeni hazzans--interest in structure of cantillation--Tehillim--differences between melodies of Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions--interest in Kabbalah--choosing text for Tehillim--lack of knowledge of original melodies--need to compose melody--performances of Tehillim--new direction in Different Trains--sampling keyboards--Kronos Quartet commission--search for recorded material and interviews--emotional inspiration--The Cave--commissioners, expense and size--perspectives of Abraham--current political divisions--location at Cave of Machpelah.
Side k: pp. 22-41
Architectural history of Cave of Machpelah--description of text presentation and video--languages of piece--inclusion and purpose of personal responses to figure of Abraham--political detachment--amorality of art--choosing a topic--use of voice doubling--influence of recording on composers in twentieth century--freedom of adopting compositional styles--musical technique--popular music influence--musical upbringing and discovery--relating to music history--prominence of rhythm--scholarly study--compositional pace.
Steve Reich
with Vivian Perlis
San Francisco, California
June 21, 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side l pp. 1-6
performance participation--Minimalism--Four Organs--performance problems--Piano Phase and Clapping Music--New Performances of Drumming and Music for 18 Musicians--full score version of Music for 18 Musicians--Boosey & Hawkes publishing--performers influencing composers--oral tradition--concert preparation.
AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES 186 r-t
Steve Reich
With Ingram Marshall
August, 2, 2002
Rochester, Vermont
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Side r pp. 1-26
Genesis of Different Trains--Desert Music--samplers--It's Gonna Rain--Come Out--use of speaking voice in his music--use of samplers--Bartók string quartets--recording of Bartók's voice--Ludwig Wittgenstein--Virginia Mitchell--trains--Holocaust--Kronos Quartet--speaking of Lawrence Davis about the period of trains of America--research on Holocaust--Pat Metheny--Tehillim--Desert Music--Michael Nyman--tradition of trains in music--American and European trains--Desert Music--musical problems to solve in Different Trains--working with the Kronos quartet--recording the piece--The Cave--being asked to write operas--Klaus Peter Kehr and Stuttgart Opera--collaborating with Beryl Korot--origin of The Cave--studying biblical Hebrew--visiting Israel--religion--story of Abraham--situation in the Middle East at the time--three acts in The Cave--visiting Hebron--recording in the mosque--recording a mukrah--settling on the voices to use--conductor Paul Hillier--percussionist Ben Harms.
Side s pp. 26-54
Piece for cello octet--performing with his ensemble--raising money for The Cave--European vs. American commissioing and support for the arts--Proverb--City Life--John Kilgore--recording studios and equipment--Judy Sherman--more on City Life--use of instruments--instruments in Desert Music--Proverb--work with Nonesuch Records--recording of Music for Eighteen Musicians--other recordings--recording of Desert Music--recording of Three Tales--conception of Three Tales--"Hindenburg," "Bikini," and "Dolly." --Triple Quartet--Proverb--Schnittke--Michael Gordon--arrangements of Reich's music done by others--performances of Three Tales--Ensemble Modern.
Side t pp. 54-72
Number of performances--new techniques--slow motion--differences between Three Tales and The Cave--video--music as a gradual process--twelve-tone system--importance for him of music before 1750--Triple Quartet--Reich's influence--Bang on a Can--Bartok quartets--Reich ensemble--piece for Maya Beiser--Cello Counterpoint--Michael Gordon's influence--remix album--becoming a composer--other musicians who played Reich's work--manner of composition--notation.
AMERICAN MUSIC SERIES OHV 186 u-x
Steve Reich
With Rebecca Y. Kim
Acquired from Rebecca Y. Kim
New York, NY (in person) and Vermont (by phone)
October 12 and 25, 2000
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I (October 12): pp. 1-14
Music for 18 Musicians (pp. 1-4)*: feelings about piece--compositional process--Piano Phase--Drumming--moving backwards--relationship between music theory and compositional practice--"minimalism"--performing it with his ensemble--chamber music experience. Three Tales (pp. 4-10): Hindenburg--Bikini--plans for Dolly--use of slow motion sound--scientific knowledge and ethics--choosing voices--The Cave and current events--lessons in Tales--different treatment of documentary material--priority of music over sample material--musical commentary on speech--scene from Hindenburg. Proverb (p. 10): Paul Hillier's suggestion--choosing material--homage to Pérotin. Different Trains (pp. 10-12): success of piece--sampling--choosing material--interviews--autobiographical nature of piece. Tehillim (pp. 13-14): importance of text and melody--new use of voices--rhythm.
Part II (October 25): pp. 14-24
Tehillim (pp. 14-19): choosing text--not using Jonah--respecting traditions--no Ashkenazic tradition for Psalms and freedom to compose new melodies--requirement for universality of text--underlying structure of rhythmic groupings--difficulty to conduct--speaking with Peter Eötvos about tempo--detailed discussion of text and setting--best recordings--Coltrane influence--canon and phasing--harmony--ending of piece as setup--text-setting. Proverb (pp. 19-21): augmentation canons--taking melismas from Pérotin--interaction between voices of women and men--similar techniques with other pieces--augmentation tradition. Triple Quartet (pp. 21-23): influence of Bartók and Michael Gordon--harmonic progression of piece--plans in writing. Creative Process (pp. 23-24): who he writes for--performance ensembles playing his music--throwing away pieces--difficulty in composing--future projects--working on one piece at a time.
* Interview organized into sections around pieces discussed.