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Music for 18 Musicians [CASSETTE] [Import]

Steve Reich | Format: Audio Cassette
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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STEVE REICH

Steve Reich has been called "...America's greatest living composer." (The Village VOICE), "...the most original musical thinker of our time" (The New Yorker) and "...among the great composers of the century" (The New York Times). From his early taped speech pieces It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966) to his and video artist Beryl ... Read more in Amazon's Steve Reich Store

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Product details

  • Audio Cassette (17 Oct 1990)
  • Format: Import
  • Label: Polygram Records
  • ASIN: B00022XD14
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,421,196 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
20 reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 32 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Recording of a Masterpiece 9 Nov 2002
By Jonathan Parsons
Format:Audio CD
The early Pulse music of Steve Reich is a wonder for those who have not yet encountered it. Music for 18 Musicians is a seminal piece. It is ambitious, monumental in scale and perfectly realised. If you are new to the 'minimalist' music of the 70s, this work will astound you with its originality. It is not easy music, but its rewards are limitless. This kind of work, sometimes called repetitive or trance music, tends to provoke the extremes of appreciation - you either love it or you hate it - and it is not the kind of music you can just allow to wash over you. However, if you allow yourself to enter fully into the aesthetic, the experience it offers can approach the sublime. It develops a meditative quality, as your engagement with the flow of sound becomes total. This music can be as moving and profound as Beethoven, as long as you're in the right mood! This recording is by the original Steve Reich and Musicians ensemble and was recorded soon after the work's composition. As usual, the performance by the ensemble is flawless. The concentration and stamina required for such a piece is enormous, but on this recording Steve Reich and Musicians present a tempo and note perfect delivery. Since this recording of Music for 18 Musicians has been available on CD, it has been possible for the listener to enjoy the piece in its continuous entirety without the fading in and out of the vinyl original. Here it is played as the composer fully intended it to be, and it strongly evokes the spirit of the time in which it was composed. Steve Reich is a giant of modern composition and performance and this is a disc that cannot be absent from any decent collection of progressive music. It is also very entertaining to have a disc with only one track of nearly an hour's duration!
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A marvellous tour through a world of colour and rhythm. 2 Mar 2001
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
Steve Reich's "Music for 18 musicians" is often hailed as one his best peices of music. This album does justice to this title. Extending over one hour in duration, themes are built up in repetition incorporating subtle changes along the way. It gradually builds up into a peice with wonderfully intricate, yet simple rhythms that makes the whole work a dynamic and exciting experience. A variety of instruments are used in this peice - notably wind instruments, glockenspiels, marimbas and voices. With these sounds Reich constructs beautiful sweeping chords that carry the listener smoothly from one scene to another.

This recording was made over twenty years after its composition. As such this recording has the benefit of experience (also played by Steve Reich).

This is a wonderful, refreshing recording of one of the most thrilling peices of minimalist music you are likely to hear.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars one of my favorite modern classical albums 16 Oct 2009
By Deven Gadula
Format:Audio CD
This is not only my favorite music by Steve Reich but one of my favorite modern classical albums. Next to Songs From The Trilogy by Philip Glass, Farewell To Philosophy by Gavin Bryars, Symphony Of Sorrowfull Songs by Henryk Gorecki or Tabula Rasa by Arvo Part. Out of all these albums Music For 18 Musicians is of the highest energy and tempo. This music evolves and takes you in. It makes you feel like you are riding a fast and steady moving train through an amazing landscape you seem to be very familiar with after a while. It may feel a little monothonic but these are the rides which allow you to focus on your own real trip so you let the train just take you... I can listen to this music over and over all day; I really like repetitive elements. Good balanced life seems to me to be full of them. If we could just eliminate mistakes... Most of Steve Reich's music is very good and original. My next recommendation would be Different Trains, which is an even more modern approach.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Astonishingly brilliant, essential listening
I think I bought this about 20 years ago, and it's been amongst my favourite pieces of music ever since. Read more
Published 5 months ago by N. Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece of the 20th century
I first heard this over 25 years ago. And hardly a month goes by when I don't play it again. On the face of it, it is repetitive, ambient, percussion music, interleaved with... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Antony D. O'dowd
5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerising
'Music For 18 Musicians' is a wonderful piece. If you have not listened to Reich's music before , this might be a good place to start. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Ali James Satchwell
5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks to Brett Anderson....
........I found out about this album a year or so when I saw Brett Anderson interviewed. He then used the start of this album as his intro music during his 2010 tour. Read more
Published 19 months ago by David Bentley Newman
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Fortune!
I first heard a small section on BBC Radio Three and was curious. I have now listened to the disc in its entirity three times and enjoy it more each time. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Anglesey
5.0 out of 5 stars Reich; Music for 18 Musicians
The cd was delivered from the USA in good condition. It's a nice recording and worth adding to my collection.
Published 23 months ago by Mr. S. Dalby
5.0 out of 5 stars mesmeric
Heard this live and wanted a cd version as blown away by it. The reviewers were right - wonderful. Recommended.
Published on 28 Sep 2010 by ann
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding -- the definitive five-star album
There was something about the later phase of the 1970s that encouraged the creation of three progressive masterpieces consisting of at most two tracks: Tangerine Dream's RICOCHET,... Read more
Published on 10 April 2010 by Gavin Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars 20th century classic.
Hypnotic ! One of my favorite Reich works, a must have of modern orchestral music. This is the ECM version and possibly the best.
Published on 30 July 2009 by Billy The Mountain
3.0 out of 5 stars flawed delivery
I love this piece of music- indeed, I've been searching for it since watching it performed on the TV as a young child and remembering a few brief snatches of the melody. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2009 by Mr. Paul B. Dale
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