In his 1968 essay, Music as a Gradual Process, Steve Reich (b. 1936) wrote, “I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music.”
An American composer at the forefront of minimalism, Reich’s early process music involved repeated fragments of recorded conversation played on tape loops, one of which gradually moved out of sync in a phasing technique. Later came instrumental phase pieces, in which the same technique was employed using musical patterns to create magical and unexpected canonic counterpoint. In the 1970s, Reich moved on to ensemble pieces such as Music for 18 Musicians, Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ, and Eight Lines. These works feature repeating, interlocking patterns which develop gradually through an additive process.
Composed in 2013 and scored for two vibraphones and two pianos, Quartet is a departure from Reich’s earlier music. There is still a sense of pulse and rhythmic groove, and, as observed in the composer’s program note, two pianos and two percussionists form the kernel of many of the earlier pieces. But instead of drawing us into an alternate state through gradually shifting repeating patterns, Quartet jumps jubilantly and unpredictably in many directions. In the opening bars, a musical fragment is developed through an additive variation process; but along the way, there are pauses and false starts. Composer and pianist Timo Andres writes,
The musical jumping-off point for Quartet began with a friendly game of composer one-upsmanship. Reich had been debating the merits of key signatures with Nico Muhly (who subscribes to the modernist tradition of forgoing them). Muhly, in turn, ribbed Reich (who uses them frequently) with an emailed photo of a locksmith’s window sign—“keys made fast and accurate”. So Reich decided to write an entire piece in response, one that would change keys more often—and more ambiguously—than anything he’d written yet.
The Quartet’s three contrasting sections (fast-slow-fast) are played without break. Rhythmically, the first section suggests the cool, complex swing of jazz. At moments, there are echoes of Javanese Gamelan music (5:00). The second section moves into a quiet, introspective dreamscape with exotic modal harmonies. Pandiatonic clusters hover wistfully and searchingly. In the final section, a deliriously irregular metric groove takes hold amid a repeating harmonic progression. Excitement mounts, and the piece ends in a blaze of bright tonal colors.
This performance features the Icarus Quartet:
Recordings
- Reich: Quartet, Colin Currie Group Amazon
Featured Image: Lever House in New York
Nice instrument combo. Reich’s music continues to grow on me… helpful to soothe the soul during these dark and scary times.