Customer Reviews

Steve Reich: You Are (Variations)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I normally don't submit reviews in this forum, and I generally think that chatter among critics is beside the point, and of little use to anyone looking to reader comments for insights into the relative merits of a piece of music. What is that great quote from Elvis Costello? "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture." BUT...

I've listened to this recording several times, and I am so grateful for this music. I've been following Reich for a couple of decades now, and like anyone, I have my favorites, but it is sometimes frustrating to read people sniffing at a new work by deciding that it is not the percieved equal of some earlier work by that composer. I guess because I think of a great composer's latest work as a chapter in a book, and it makes little sense to me to stop the conversation between composer and listener in order to pit one chapter against another. Some of these posted criticisms have been thoughtful and heartfelt, but I would want them to consider that the listener changes over time as well, and sometimes listener and composer evolve and grow in different directions, and it is not necessarily the composer's "fault" if their aesthetics diverge down the line.

I love this record. I think Reich is distilling some of what has made him so interesting to me over the years. There are only a handful of modern composers that create music that is both lovely AND challenging, and none has perfected this balance better than Reich. Others may differ, but for me, the conversation is just getting more interesting as the years go by.

Robert Bundy

Steve Reich is a consistent contemporary composer. He has been artist in residence with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for years now and his forays into instrumental works, chamber works, and works for the human voice. He has that uncanny ability to treat every participant in lifting his score of the page as equals, whether that participant be a percussionist, and instrumentalist, a soloist, or the human voice. His gift is one of sonics and pulsating rhythmic patterns that, while many may classify as minimalist, unfold like the colored stone patterns in a revolving kaleidoscope.

Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale appear to be perfectly wedded to Reich's gifts. The 'You Are (Variations)' are four movements in alternating English and Hebrew and call more for an 'instrumental' approach to the voice than for the usual opulent choral beauty that is the hallmark of this fine ensemble. And it works! 'You are wherever your thoughts are' opens the work in English followed by 'Shiviti hashem l'negdi (I place the eternal before)', 'Explanations come to an end somewhere', and the final 'Ehmor m'aht, v'ahsay harbay (Say little and do much)'. In these comprehensibly sung texts is great beauty of invention and sound, a perfect melding of the human voice as a musical instrument with just the added edge of being able to utter words that magnify the mood.

Equally as beautiful is 'Cello Counterpoint' (as performed by Maya Beiser and prerecorded eight other celli), a lyrical with a fascinatingly dense rhythmic drive that is for this listener one of the most successive experimental works of his Counterpoint series.

While fellow minimalist composers (John Adams for one) are stretching beyond the purity of this movement, Steve Reich proves that there is much more to be said in this realm. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05

I went to see the UK premiere of this piece, and honestly, it almost sounds better recorded on this CD.

Well I am one of the minimalist nuts who runs to the store as soon as i hear about a new release by Steve Reich. He takes his time with new compositions, and luckily we are usually rewarded very generously by each of his efforts. The works on this album are no exception, and I would probably rank them near the top in terms of quality, originality and overall listenability.

These two pieces are somewhat more complex than many of his previous works. There is some similarity with the recent Triple Quartet, especially in Cello Counterpoint. The trademark Reich style is clearly there, but with an extra layer of rythmic and harmonic complexity. The end result (for me) is two outstanding pieces that have a freshness which I didn't expect. It is exciting to see that Steve's writing is continuing to evolve (and in a good way). more more more, please!!

I have loved Steve Reich's music since Six Pianos and Trains, and You Are (Variations) are superb examples of his writing, this time for choir and ensemble. Fans of 20th century minimalism should buy this immediately, although it is georgeously complex and textured for a minimalist piece. The Los Angeles Master Chorale are in fine voice throughout. The lovely choral pieces are paired with an equally exciting Cello Counterpoint,with the most impressive tone and technique from Maya Beiser pushing the normally lyrical instrument into urgent counterpoint.

Many years ago I saw a performance of Steve Reich's "Drumming". I remember it exciting me. But it's not the kind of music you walk out humming, certainly not if you're a near layperson like I. So I didn't think much more about Steve Reich until hearing a report on NPR about the Steve Reich Festival in New York celebrating his 75th birthday. I got motivated and ordered this CD.

And what a thrill. It's easy to presume composer like Reich - because his music is complex - to be inaccessible. But I put the CD on and was swept away by the pure joyous force of it. The driving, indescribable rhythms for which Reich is famous (just how do these musicians manage to play them?) are overlain with broad, thrilling chording performed by chorus, marimba and a small arsenal of other instruments. The "You Are" variations - settings of short texts from Psalms, Pirkei Avot, Rebbe Nachman of Bratzlav and Ludwig Wittgenstein that work together remarkably well - pulse with exultation. Far from inaccessible, this music immediately grabbed me and left me feeling uplifted.

The other reviews have said pretty much all I have to say about this album. Reich is a fantastic composer, and has such wonderful ingenuity and technique that he can't help but write good music (or so it seems). That being said, "You Are" is not one of his most creative works. I also agree that it needs to be slimmed down in the number of performers so that it doesn't sound so cloudy. "Cello Counterpoint," however, is very good. My favorite of the counterpoint series is "Electric-", but "cello-" is a very high quality composition, and I enjoyed it a great deal.
Basically, this is very very good music, it is just not the best or most interesting work by this composer. So I give it four stars; anyone who hasn't heard Reich before, this is good music, Reich fans, this is nothing to rush to buy.

'You Are (Variations)' marks a return to purely musical endeavour for Steve Reich after highly innovative works in the field of video opera in collaboration with the video artist Beryl Corot.
Like a fellow reviewer, I too was fortunate enough to see this piece at its European premiere back in January, performed by the Ensemble Modern and Synergy Vocals in Frankfurt, Germany. On the night I was blown away by the piece, but on reflection this probably had more to do with the novelty of hearing it for the first time in a live setting (and possibly the arrangement- there were only 6 vocalists i.e. one to a part, in that performance) than with the quality of the work itself.
Now I am a massive fan of Reich's music, and there is a lot to admire in this, the title work. For those familiar with his music, there is a wonderful sense of concision to the piece, firstly in that it draws stylistically from many of his former works; that strange, floating cloud of pulsing staccato voices which permeate his earlier counterpoint pieces being just one concrete example. Rather than feeling like Reich-by-numbers, however (as it could well do), approached with an open mind this is a very welcome characteristic- there is something very comforting in hearing or seeing familiar elements in any artists' work, particularly of one you like; it is the hallmark of a master who has developed a voice unique enough to become comfortable with expressing him/herself in that voice alone. That is the first thing to note, however; there is nothing *radically* different in You Are (Variations) in terms of overall sound. It is a continuation of an already established aesthetic. The use of variations technique is, however, something Reich has only put his mind to once before, and that in 1978 (for Winds, Strings and Keyboards)
The sense of concision comes secondly from the brevity of the individual sections/movements, and the simple harmonic language used by Reich throughout, especially in the 2nd and 4th movements ('Shiviti HaShem L'Negdi' and 'Ehmor m'aht, va'ah say harbay'). The thing which ties the variations together harmonically is a D major altered dominant chord, upon which these movements are based. There is some chromaticism, to be sure; from the 5th variation of the 1st section ('You are wherever your thoughts are') until its conclusion, the four pianos are piled on top of eachother playing conflicting harmonies and, in Reich's own words, 'the plot thickens enormously'. Equally in the 3rd movement ('Explanations come to an end somewhere'), where the words of Wittgenstein are given a heavily atmospheric, almost oppressive, setting, with a tritone being resolved at the end of each repetition of the phrase.
The other things about the work which really appeal to me are: 1. the swinging rhythms of the 2nd and 4th movements; there is a real sense of playfulness and fun to the writing here, to match the joyousness of the Hebrew texts- 2 movements which have to rank among Reich's best work, typically for him emotionally very moving and uplifting.
2. the selection of texts; the idea to set such disparate, philosophical texts, although not unusual for Reich himself, strikes me as very contemporary and their meanings add MUCH to the listening experience. There is a very powerful spirituality to this music, which is however thoroughly modern because of the time written and because of the texts set.
3. the fact that although the texts are incredibly short and thus in their setting demand repetition, this repetition is not irritating given the application of variations technique to them.
The reason I have given 'You Are' only three stars, however, is because, as another reviewer commented, the music is extremely flat in places, especially in the first movement, which aside from the first few variations proceeds on a very horizontal line. The emphasis here is completely on the voices; the orchestral ensemble provides merely a sonic backbone for the choir in most places, and doesn't do ANYTHING lyrical or expansive throughout, with the exception of the winds' imitation of the lead vocal line. The selection of four pianos and so many mallet percussion instruments seems over the top; they just chug away relentlessly, especially in the otherwise excellent second movement, where they all (pianos and all vibes and marimbas) seem to be playing that same altered dominant chord for the entirety. It adds up to a fairly stodgy, overdone sound. The same criticism can be levelled at the voices. What they do and how they individually do it is beautiful,and they are indeed (by Reich's standards)lyrical and expansive, but there are simply far too many of them, providing a thick, almost blunt sound, especially when compared to the amazing 'Tehillim'. However, the canons themselves can be quite incomprehensible on first listening and require closer attention to make sense. My criticism has therefore nothing to do with the work being choral, since I love Reich's writing for voices, with 'Tehillim' my second favourite after 'Different Trains'. There just isn't that feeling of hypnotism and suspended time you get with that piece. My final reason for three stars is that the structure is far too reminiscent of 'Tehillim' for my liking, in a way which strikes me as even lazy;lo and behold there is a slow, disconnected third section after two uninterrupted movements of the same tempo with a very similar musical setting, and a recapitulation at the end.
In short, I'd wait for the chamber version with smaller choir and ensemble, even though 'You Are' was commissioned by the LAMC.

I have to respond to "D. Flynn"'s assessment of current/late Reich. I tend to reluctantly agree with most of it. I've noticed the pattern of several of my favorite composers, notably George Crumb, losing their way and losing the distinct power of their compositional voices late in life. I was hoping Reich was an exception and I still hold out hope. Like you, I've been underwhelmed by most of the post-"Trains" music, though one huge exception is "Proverb" which I find absolutely exquisite, timeless & spell-binding. Likewise, "City Life" excited me, as it represented a major step forward in the style he began with "Trains". I feel that "City Life" works because he finds new aesthetic uses for the "Trains" technique of integrating the sampled voices and sounds compellingly into an instrumental texture, and advances that technique significantly forward, to stunning effect. I find it moving & evocative of its subject. Perhaps not as brutally moving as "Trains" but then again, neither is the subject.

Most of the other late works you mention did leave me unmoved, but I try to sympathize with composers who have carved out immortal, distinct voices for themselves, in their unenviable task to go beyond that, not repeat themselves, and yet live up to the level they've already established. It's a tall order. Someone like Philip Glass doesn't even attempt to alter an already boring/lifeless style and just makes lots of money rewriting the same piece for 30 years on end. I have more faith in Reich than that and can overlook a few duds if they represent a path he needs to work through to get to more jewels like "Proverb" and "City Life". However, I must reluctantly admit that his track record is slipping.

I like the music well enough, but I have a hard time sitting through it because it sounds thin and a bit harsh. I've tried several of my stereos at home and even my ipods. It seems sad to waste such a talent on a poorly engineered recording.