STEVE REICH – Works : 1965/1995 (1997) 10xCD BOX-SET | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Of the composers generally referred to as "minimalist" (a label almost universally rejected by those to whom it is applied), three have had a substantial and direct impact on modern music both popular and classical since the 1960s: Philip Glass, Steve Reich and, to a somewhat lesser degree, John Adams. Glass has had the greater commercial success and Adams has worked in larger forms with more prestigious orchestras, but Reich has made the most consistently interesting music in both harmonic and rhythmic terms, successfully setting repetitious, slow-changing patterns into interesting and musically compelling structures. As he has repeatedly and adamantly stated, his is not "trance" music; he expects the listener to pay close attention, and his music amply rewards those who do. This monumental ten-CD retrospective collects the original recordings of Reich's published music, except for the new recordings of "New York Counterpoint," "Eight Lines," "Four Organs," and "Music for 18 Musicians." It documents his progression from early tape pieces (deceptively simple, foreshadowing later work with phase shifting and canonic structures), to more recent choral/orchestral works that demonstrate conclusively that Reich's music is far from "minimal." His most famous works are included, notably "Music for 18 Musicians," "The Desert Music," and "Different Trains," widely regarded as his masterpiece. There are, however, some curious exclusions: His groundbreaking "Violin Phase" is missing, not to mention the charming "Music for Pieces of Wood" ("Clapping Music," from the same period, is included), and his gorgeous composition for flutist Ransom Wilson, "Vermont Counterpoint." Nevertheless, this box set is an essential purchase for anyone with a serious interest in modern art music. The packaging is beautiful, and the accompanying booklet includes full track and personnel listings, a chronology of Reich's career, appreciative notes from fellow musicians, and an excellent new interview by Jonathan Cott.  Rick Anderson 

Track Listing - Disc 1
1 Come Out, for tape  12:58
Steve Reich
2 Piano Phase, for 2 pianos (or 2 marimbas)  20:36
Steve Reich
It's Gonna Rain, for tape
3 Part I  7:59
Steve Reich
4 Part II  9:55
Steve Reich
5 Four Organs, for 4 electric organs & maracas  15:52
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 2
Drumming, for 2 female voices, piccolo, 4 pairs of bongos, 3 marimbas & 3 glockenspiels
1 Part I  17:30
Steve Reich
2 Part II  18:10
Steve Reich
3 Part III  11:12
Steve Reich
4 Part IV  9:50
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 3
1 Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ, for 3 female voices, 3 marimbas, 3 glockenspiels, vibes & organ  16:58
Steve Reich
2 Clapping Music, for 2 performers  4:48
Steve Reich
3 Six Marimbas (rearranged version of "Six Pianos")  16:19
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 4
Music for 18 Musicians, for 4 female voices & 16 instruments
1 Pulses  5:26
Steve Reich
2 Section I  3:58
Steve Reich
3 Section II  5:13
Steve Reich
4 Section IIIa  3:55
Steve Reich
5 Section IIIb  3:45
Steve Reich
6 Section IV  6:36
Steve Reich
7 Section V  6:48
Steve Reich
8 Section VI  4:54
Steve Reich
9 Section VII  4:19
Steve Reich
10 Section VIII  3:34
Steve Reich
11 Section IX  5:23
Steve Reich
12 Section X  1:50
Steve Reich
13 Section XI  5:44
Steve Reich
14 Section Pulses  6:10
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 5
1 Eight Lines (revision of "Octet"), for chamber orchestra  17:36
Steve Reich
Tehillim, for 3 sopranos, alto, winds, strings, percussion & keyboards
2 Part I: Fast  11:45
Steve Reich
3 Part II: Fast  6:01
Steve Reich
4 Part III: Slow  6:18
Steve Reich
5 Part IV: Fast  6:23
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 6
The Desert Music, for small chorus & large orchestra
1 First Movement (Fast)  7:54
Steve Reich
2 Second Movement (Moderate)  6:59
Steve Reich
3 Third Movement, Part One (Slow)  6:59
Steve Reich
4 Third Movement, Part Two (Moderate)  5:53
Steve Reich
5 Third Movement, Part Three (Slow)  5:54
Steve Reich
6 Fourth Movement (Moderate)  3:35
Steve Reich
7 Fifth Movement (Fast)  10:47
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 7
New York Counterpoint, for clarinet, bass clarinet & tape
1 Fast  5:03
Steve Reich
2 Slow  2:43
Steve Reich
3 Fast  3:40
Steve Reich
Sextet, for percussion, piano & synthesizers
4 1st Movement  10:29
Steve Reich
5 2nd Movement  4:12
Steve Reich
6 3rd Movement  2:27
Steve Reich
7 4th Movement  3:14
Steve Reich
8 5th Movement 5:59
Steve Reich
The Four Sections, for orchestra
9 I. Strings (with Winds and Brass), quarter note=80  11:25
Steve Reich
10 II. Percussion, quartet note=80  2:29
Steve Reich
11 III. Winds and Brass (with Strings), quarter note=120  5:54
Steve Reich
12 IV. Full Orchestra, quarter note=180  6:14
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 8
Different Trains, for double string quartet & tape
1 America - Before the war  8:58
Steve Reich
2 Europe - During the war  7:30
Steve Reich
3 After the war  10:30
Steve Reich
Electric Counterpoint, for electric guitar, bass guitar & tape
4 Fast  6:50
Steve Reich
5 Slow 3:22
Steve Reich
6 Fast  4:39
Steve Reich
Movements (3) for orchestra
7 Movement I: quarter note=176  6:43
Steve Reich
8 Movement II: quarter note=88  3:41
Steve Reich
9 Movement III: quarter note=176  4:18
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 9
The Cave, multimedia theater work for piano, sampling keyboards & voice of Neville Chamberlain
1 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Typing Music (Genesis XVI)  2:58
Steve Reich
2 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Who is Abraham?  1:33
Steve Reich
3 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Who is Ishmael?  4:42
Steve Reich
4 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Genesis XVIII  2:32
Steve Reich
5 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Genesis XXI  2:36
Steve Reich
6 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. The Casting Out of Ishmael and Hagar  5:25
Steve Reich
7 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Machpelah Commentary  3:27
Steve Reich
8 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Genesis XXV (chanted in Hebrew from the Torah by Ephraim Isaac)  1:20
Steve Reich
9 Act 1. West Jerusalem / Hebron. Interior of the Cave  4:30
Steve Reich
10 Act 2. East Jerusalem / Hebron. Surah 3 (chanted in Arabic from the Koran by Sheikh Dahoud Atalah,  4:40
Steve Reich
11 Act 2. East Jerusalem / Hebron. El Khalil Commentary  5:19
Steve Reich
12 Act 3. New York City / Austin. Who is Abraham?  6:29
Steve Reich
13 Act 3. New York City / Austin. Who is Sarah?  4:23
Steve Reich
14 Act 3. New York City / Austin. Who is Hagar?  4:40
Steve Reich
15 Act 3. New York City / Austin. Who is Ishmael?  4:04
Steve Reich
16 Act 3. New York City / Austin. The Binding of Isaac  4:28
Steve Reich
17 Act 3. New York City / Austin. The Cave of Machpelah 8:42
Steve Reich

Track Listing - Disc 10
1 Proverb, for 3 sopranos, 2 tenors, 2 vibes & 2 organs  14:09
Steve Reich
2 Nagoya Marimbas, for 2 marimbas  4:35
Steve Reich
City Life, for for chamber ensemble 
3 I. Check It Out  5:51
Steve Reich
4 II. Pile driver / alarms  3:53
Steve Reich
5 III. It's been a honeymoon - Can't take no mo  4:47
Steve Reich
6 IV. Heartbeats / boats & buoys  3:59
Steve Reich
7 V. Heavy smoke  4:42
Steve Reich

ARVO PÄRT - Creator Spiritus [2012]

 The selections on this album of music by Estonian "holy minimalist" Arvo Pärt come from different phases of his career. One, the Solfeggio, dates from 1963, before Pärt abandoned serialism for his minimalist experiments; it was revised and simplified a good deal in 2008, however. The centerpiece (and finale), the Stabat Mater, was composed in 1985, and several of the shorter pieces date from the 2000s. The repertoire is divided between sacred choral pieces and short secular pieces of various kinds, all culminating in the giant, hypnotic, and virtually symmetrical Stabat Mater. Conductor Paul Hillier, who despite the profusion of new recordings of Pärt is still tough to beat, structures the program so as to use various ensembles: his own small group Theatre of Voices (also including an organ), the larger Ars Nova Copenhagen, and the NYYD Quartet. This tunes the ear to the subtle contrasts that are essential to Pärt's often almost static later music, and the whole therefore gathers in intensity as it proceeds. There aren't really any examples of Pärt's tintinnabulation (bell-like) texture, bringing home the degree to which he has purified and simplified his music even as he, like Western minimalists, has readmitted some aspects of functional harmony. The sacred a cappella pieces emerge as a kind of timeless chant, akin to but quite different from traditional forms of Orthodox chant, and the starkly simple secular pieces function as interludes. Sample the unique setting of the English-language traditional ballad My Heart's in the Highlands (track 6), where the vocal part consists only of a single note. The cumulative effect is powerful indeed, and the musicians are backed up by superb engineering from Harmonia Mundi. If you are interested in the development of Pärt's music over time, you could hardly do better than this release.  by James Manheim  

Arvo Pärt [1935 - ] Creator Spiritus

 [Ars Nova Copenhagen-Theatre of Voices-Paul Hillier] 

Harmonia Mundi 2012 / CBR320 / scan

O Púbis da Rosa