Classical Music: Steve Reich – Music For Eighteen Musicians

Given the title of this piece, there are no prizes for guessing the answer to this question: what links Michael Nyman, Max Richter, Brian Eno and a host of other cultural figures?

Difficult to believe, but it is now nearly fifty years since Reich, for better or worse, changed the course of musical history, in the same way as Schoenberg’s Opus 11 or Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring had done before him.

With John Adams and (my favourite) Philip Glass, Reich pioneered the musical form of Minimalism. This music depends on repetition with subtle variations in rhythm and harmonics. Think of a heartbeat or a train running over the tracks: Reich’s work depends on similar elements for its forward momentum, and the use of a technique known as ‘phase shifting’ - slow variations over time.

Music for Eighteen Musicians is a continuous flow of eleven sections, each one corresponding to a specific chord, with no pauses in between. The piece is topped and tailed by Pulse I and Pulse II. Seven of the eighteen players are percussionists, with clarinets, violin, piano and cello. Voices come from Synergy Vocals.

The piece opens with Pulse I which has the curious feeling of being expansive and contained at the same time. We become accustomed to the rhythmical overlapping. Waiting for a break before Section I, Reich surprises us by using a fade instead and before we know it, we are on to the next piece.

Sometimes, the music conjures up a vision of running, a sudden trip, but then standing up to continue running again.

As the Sections progress, we encounter different rhythms suggestive of parts of our world. One, for example seems to use the murmur of bees while another catches a missing tooth on a flywheel as it revolves. As you engage and are drawn in, it is difficult to answer the door or the telephone in case you miss something: pressing Pause is not an option.

Section 7 suddenly introduces Synergy Voices to the mix. Their role is as vocalise, forming another instrument of the ensemble, but they are still a welcome variation to the previous Sections.

Finally, Pulse II rounds off the piece, complementing the whole. The experience is not a wholly satisfactory one since, it seems, Reich’s intention is that Music for Eighteen Musicians is an ongoing process that will freewheel into the future. There is no clear conclusion.

Being trained as a drummer, as Reich was, Colin Currie is an ideal interpreter of Reich’s work. In addition, he has direct experience of working with the composer.

Minimalism may not be every listener’s cup of Marmite, but it helps to explain why some music has taken the path it has throughout the late twentieth century and into the twenty first.