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Proverb / Nagoya Marimbas / City Life
Reich, Steve
(Composer),
Bradley Lubman
(Conductor),
Paul Hillier
(Conductor),
Theatre of Voices
(Orchestra),
Steve Reich Ensemble
(Performer),
Edmund Neimann
(Performer),
Edmund Niemann
(Performer),
Nurit Tilles
(Performer),
Lisa Moore
(Performer),
Andrea Fullington
(Performer),
Sonja Rasmussen
(Performer),
Alan Bennett
(Performer)
&
9
more Format: Audio CD
-71% $5.52$5.52
List Price: $18.96$18.96
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Proverb / Nagoya Marimba / City Life
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| Price | New from | Used from |
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MP3 Music, September 13, 2005
"Please retry" | $9.49 | — |
Track Listings
| 1 | Proverb - Theater of Voices/Steve Reich Ens/Hillier |
| 2 | Nagoya Marimbas - Bob Becker/James Preiss |
| 3 | City Life: 'Chack It Out' |
| 4 | City Life: Pile Driver |
| 5 | City Life: 'It's Been A Honeymoon-Can't take no mo' ' |
| 6 | City Life: Heartbeats/boats and bouys |
| 7 | City Life: 'Heavy Smoke |
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- Product Dimensions : 5.5 x 4.94 x 0.45 inches; 4.16 Ounces
- Manufacturer : Nonesuch
- Date First Available : December 7, 2006
- Label : Nonesuch
- ASIN : B000005J4E
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #166,415 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #690 in Avant Garde & Free Jazz (CDs & Vinyl)
- #5,222 in Chamber Music (CDs & Vinyl)
- #10,232 in Vocal Pop (CDs & Vinyl)
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.9 out of 5 stars
4.9 out of 5
19 global ratings
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Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 23, 2019
Steve Reich's music is always marvelous! "Proverb" especially is chillingly beautiful. A single soprano voice clear as glass introduces the theme and other voices join in to weave around Wittgenstein's proverb,"How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life." The music expands, contracts and braids around that phrase just as events and themes in our own lives intertwine with the one thought or motif that forms the core of one's personality or soul.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 29, 2018
for me, one of the best recording of Steve Reich with beautiful programm
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 30, 2014
Proverb is one of those compositions that reaches right into your core and then holds you in a transfixed state of listening.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 7, 2014
This short work for two marimbas, composed in 1994 for the opening of a new hall at the Nagoya music conservatory in Japan, is for Steve Reich fans in a hurry. Reich himself has said it’s comparable to some of his most famous works of the 1960s and 1970s built out of repeating interlocking patterns that very gradually move in and out of phase with each other. The two that immediately spring to my mind are Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (especially memorable for its beautiful sound texture) and above all Music for 18 Musicians for a chamber ensemble heavy with marimbas and xylophones, not a moment too long at 55 minutes, and richly harmonic as well as characteristically rhythmical. But the changes happen much more rapidly in the four-and-a-half minute Nagoya Marimbas, and there’s more melody. The two marimbas play against each other one or more beats out of phase and create, says Reich, a series of two part unison canons. Although the two players have to be virtuosic, the musical processes at work here are unusually transparent.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 26, 2008
This 1996 release presents yet another excellent batch of minimalist compositions from Steve Reich. As a long-time progressive rock fan, I have found the music of the minimalist composers, and Steve Reich in particular, to be one of the most refreshing and exciting discoveries in a long time. My only regret is that I did not discover this music earlier. Better late than never I suppose.
The three pieces on the album are performed by the Theater of Voices and members of the Steve Reich Ensemble with Paul Hillier conducting (on Proverb), marimba virtuosos Bob Becker and James Preiss (on Nagoya Marimbas) and finally, the entire Steve Reich Ensemble with Bradley Lubman conducting (on City Life). The performances on this album are thrilling and the marimba piece in particular requires a great deal of skill to play. In addition to the traditional instrumentation, I also appreciate the use of "found sounds". Although many of the 60s-70s progressive acts that I enjoy used found sounds, their use on this album is vastly more sophisticated.
The three tracks are quite different from one another. Proverb (14:01) features three female sopranos and two male tenors along with vibraphones and two electric organs. This is an austere, haunting piece and is my favorite of the three compositions. Vocal melismas (whereby the pitch of a single syllable is changed while it is sung) are one characteristic property and apart from the introduction, the electric organs double the voices. The hypnotic Nagoya Marimbas (4:29) nicely demonstrates the use of ostinato networks (repeated patterns), which get fairly complex - I really enjoy the earthy textures of the mallet instruments on this track. City Life (23:07) follows an arch form (like Desert Music, 1984). Although the instrumental passages are good, one of the most distinctive features includes the use of samples: jackhammers, screeching tires, car alarms, and speech amongst others. The samples are spliced, looped and seamlessly integrated with the other instruments (flutes, oboes, clarinets, pianos, percussion, string quartet and bass) in choppy eighth notes and triplets. Interestingly, just like real city life, some of the sampled bits become a little grating and actually made me feel agitated.
Distributed by the Nonesuch label, this is a nice package overall and comes with an outer cardboard sleeve for the jewel case. The liner notes (written by Steve) are nicely detailed and provide in-depth technical information for each piece. The sound quality is excellent.
All in all, this is yet another wonderful example of minimalism from Steve Reich and is one of the more interesting bits of recently composed music that I have heard.
The three pieces on the album are performed by the Theater of Voices and members of the Steve Reich Ensemble with Paul Hillier conducting (on Proverb), marimba virtuosos Bob Becker and James Preiss (on Nagoya Marimbas) and finally, the entire Steve Reich Ensemble with Bradley Lubman conducting (on City Life). The performances on this album are thrilling and the marimba piece in particular requires a great deal of skill to play. In addition to the traditional instrumentation, I also appreciate the use of "found sounds". Although many of the 60s-70s progressive acts that I enjoy used found sounds, their use on this album is vastly more sophisticated.
The three tracks are quite different from one another. Proverb (14:01) features three female sopranos and two male tenors along with vibraphones and two electric organs. This is an austere, haunting piece and is my favorite of the three compositions. Vocal melismas (whereby the pitch of a single syllable is changed while it is sung) are one characteristic property and apart from the introduction, the electric organs double the voices. The hypnotic Nagoya Marimbas (4:29) nicely demonstrates the use of ostinato networks (repeated patterns), which get fairly complex - I really enjoy the earthy textures of the mallet instruments on this track. City Life (23:07) follows an arch form (like Desert Music, 1984). Although the instrumental passages are good, one of the most distinctive features includes the use of samples: jackhammers, screeching tires, car alarms, and speech amongst others. The samples are spliced, looped and seamlessly integrated with the other instruments (flutes, oboes, clarinets, pianos, percussion, string quartet and bass) in choppy eighth notes and triplets. Interestingly, just like real city life, some of the sampled bits become a little grating and actually made me feel agitated.
Distributed by the Nonesuch label, this is a nice package overall and comes with an outer cardboard sleeve for the jewel case. The liner notes (written by Steve) are nicely detailed and provide in-depth technical information for each piece. The sound quality is excellent.
All in all, this is yet another wonderful example of minimalism from Steve Reich and is one of the more interesting bits of recently composed music that I have heard.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2003
This CD was my first venture into the works of Steve Reich, and is probably my most frequently listened to. I have to say, these are some incredibly striking and graceful pieces to listen to. Rather than relying on traditional chordal progressions and arrangements to progress the piece, this is instead a study in pattern and melody, and (during City Life) the use of everyday sound. Being a rock fan as well as classical, I find it interesting to see the latter entering into classical music as well as where I've experienced it before (in Pink Floyd, Rick Wright, and other rock artists' works).
"Proverb" is a very interesting, mellow piece with a single lyric: "How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life." This piece recalls the medieval forms such as the organum--but with rhythms and dissonances that the ancients would have never dared explore. The lyric itself seems to be a statement of the principles of minimalism...something upon which the listener is compelled to meditate during the course of this piece. "Nagoya Marimbas", while not the most striking statement is a very interesting study of patterns--the changes are subtle and occur just in time to prevent the piece from becoming monotonous. I imagine that to play this piece would require great concentration on the part of each player, to stay with their individual contribution to it.
By far, "City Life" is the most compelling piece, and the one I initially bought this CD for. The use of sampled sounds, combined with the textures of the music itself, truly evokes the image of New York City, from the frenzied rush of cars in the first movement to the brooding ambience of the harbor, and finally, the potential for disaster reflected in the last movement. I bought this CD in the fall of 2001, and it was quite chilling to realize that the recordings Mr. Reich used in the last movement were from the *first* World Trade Center bombing...but it could just as easily fit the more recent tragedy.
"Proverb" is a very interesting, mellow piece with a single lyric: "How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life." This piece recalls the medieval forms such as the organum--but with rhythms and dissonances that the ancients would have never dared explore. The lyric itself seems to be a statement of the principles of minimalism...something upon which the listener is compelled to meditate during the course of this piece. "Nagoya Marimbas", while not the most striking statement is a very interesting study of patterns--the changes are subtle and occur just in time to prevent the piece from becoming monotonous. I imagine that to play this piece would require great concentration on the part of each player, to stay with their individual contribution to it.
By far, "City Life" is the most compelling piece, and the one I initially bought this CD for. The use of sampled sounds, combined with the textures of the music itself, truly evokes the image of New York City, from the frenzied rush of cars in the first movement to the brooding ambience of the harbor, and finally, the potential for disaster reflected in the last movement. I bought this CD in the fall of 2001, and it was quite chilling to realize that the recordings Mr. Reich used in the last movement were from the *first* World Trade Center bombing...but it could just as easily fit the more recent tragedy.
Top reviews from other countries
:://naoki/.
4.0 out of 5 stars
救いなのか、それとも鏡像に過ぎないのか
Reviewed in Japan 🇯🇵 on May 24, 2002
ヴィトゲンシュタインのテクストから引用、時間軸に並行して音符間が広がっていく不気味な声楽作品「Proverb」は符号的寓意に富んだ作品。
「些細な考え事が一つあれば、人生を満たすことができる」
実存の真実を映し出した鏡像は、時に寒気がする程におぞましい。
この気味の悪さが楽曲によく映し出されている。
独特な声楽部の音の重ね方は、控え目ながら
「The Cave」の時より格段にコントロールされている。
「City Life」はミュージックコンクレートの辿った極致の一つ。
都市生活をテーマに救いの無いシュールな世界観を形成している。
「些細な考え事が一つあれば、人生を満たすことができる」
実存の真実を映し出した鏡像は、時に寒気がする程におぞましい。
この気味の悪さが楽曲によく映し出されている。
独特な声楽部の音の重ね方は、控え目ながら
「The Cave」の時より格段にコントロールされている。
「City Life」はミュージックコンクレートの辿った極致の一つ。
都市生活をテーマに救いの無いシュールな世界観を形成している。
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