Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 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
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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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime perfection, 5 Feb 2005
This is one of the most sublime pieces of music I have ever heard. In the month that I've had it I've listened to it many, many times, and very little else. Whether driving, working or just chilling out - it always gives you something that very few pieces do. That said, it won't be to everyone's tastes. The singularly unique style will inevitably bemuse as many people as it delights. It is not a mainstream piece of music, and so much better for that. My feeling is that it will appeal most to people who relish the subtle complexity that comes out of the interplay of simple elements, perhaps in particular those who are more analytically minded. When you first listen to it you might be forgiven for thinking that 'nothing much really happens', and yet if you give it the space it deserves you'll discover that it is packed from start to finish with rich, rewarding detail which continuously evolves, stimulates and surprises. In a sense the many instuments each play in isolation, repeating their own simple pattern with little concession to traditional harmony or ensemble, and yet it is the implied patterns and interplay that comes from combining these elements that creates the rich sonic and rhythmic interest. The best real-life analogy I can think of is the effect you get when you listen to a peel of church bells. After a while, if you're like me anyway, you become hypnotised and your brain starts to pick out subtle patterns implied by the shifting notes and accents. If you like that, you'll love this music.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Genius, 19 Jan 2003
For the past few days, I have been playing '18' to my parents, trying to explain to them why it is not all the same. Needless to say, so-called 'minimalism' ( which Reich does not fit into anyway ) is a hard idea to teach a pair of completely non-musical middle-aged Led Zeppelin fans. But '18' is the perfect place to start, and this version - 11 minutes longer than the original but still performed by Reich and his ensemble - does it the credit it deserves.The first section states the harmonies of the 11-chord theme which is used throughout the piece and treated in various different ways. From the very beginning you know that this is going to be a fantastic piece, because the harmonies themselves shimmer and float around you. They make you see sense in the passage from the booklet enclosed, that it evokes non-Western music, classical music and jazz without sounding like any of them. There is so much contrast in '18' that I never tire of listening to it. There is always so much going on, and the texture is so varied that even my parents realised that it was more than a load of chords. It was a type of polyphony that has never been equalled - even by Reich himself. This has to be the perfect introduction to Reich, being his best piece, and it is wonderful in any situation. Either background music, music to meditate to, or read to etc etc etc. But it is simply genius.
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