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| 1. Music For 18 Musicians - S. Reich - S. Reich |
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The 1978 recording of Reich's seminal Music for 18 Musicians still astounds. Listeners aware of the talents of such bands as Tortoise or Gas or of DJs such as Vladislav Delay or Aphex Twin and fans of Warp records or the click, cut and glitch of recent post-techno could all do with checking out what continues to be vital source material. Lovers of Bach, Satie, Stravinsky, Nancarrow, Cage, Stockhausen, Budd, Eno or Phillip Glass will all find this a very special and rewarding listening experience.
Reich's 1970's Pulse work is often recalled as repetitive, which it unarguably is, but the artfulness, intricacy and the seamless layering of this beautiful piece is less often noted. Reich builds and deconstructs, endlessly moving what turns out to be not merely a work of huge intellect and technical skill but an emotional and complex and hugely satisfying piece of music. This is no post-Gamelan pose but a highly accomplished and stirring piece of music that deserves a lot more than cult status. --Mark Thwaite
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
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!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
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.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Although 'Music for Eighteen Musicians' is a work divided into an opening 'Pulse', ten middle 'Sections' and a closing 'Pulse', it is read by my CD player as one continuous track of about 1 hour in length. Which, indeed, it is.
The 'Pulse' contains the essence of the whole work, which is then elaborated on in the 'Sections' and the piece ends in much the same way as it began.
To label the work 'repetitive' would be an understatement, but also an unfair one. It is in it's repetition of themes and original musical ideas that this admittedly minimal work finds it's strengths.
The fact that the very modern sounding piece is played entirely acoustically, along with the almost unrecognisable (yet sublime) presence of four female voices both contribute greatly to a piece of music which should not be ignored.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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 7 months ago by Antony D. O'dowd
Mesmerising
'Music For 18 Musicians' is a wonderful piece. If you have not listened to Reich's music before , this is a good place to start. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Ali James Satchwell
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 8 months ago by David Bentley Newman
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 8 months ago by Anglesey
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
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
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
The door to the last 30 years
When you hear this album, you cannot help but be taken in by its hypnotic building and sequencing of sounds upon and around one another. Read more
Published on 10 Mar 2008 by Ian Shine
A modern masterpiece
This was played to our class by our enlightened music master when I was a 14 year old schoolboy. I did not rediscover the work until I was in my 30s. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2008 by Jules
Haunting!!
A truly seminal piece of work. While listening to this you will understand where modern artists like Chicane and Tangerine Dream obtained their inspiration from. Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2004 by Dr Duncan A Emerton
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