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Pulse for Winds, Strings, Piano and Electric Bass (2015): International Contemporary Ensemble (four violins, two violas, two flutes, two clarinets, piano and bass)/ Quartet (2013): Colin Currie Group two vibraphones, two pianos
On every Steve Reich piece there’s a beat. It starts early on if not at the beginning and typically, is soon joined by a second beat. Both play on, in contrast to each other but next to each other, played by different instruments with different tonalities. In the case of his 2015 Pulse (what an apt name for a Steve Reich composition!), it’s strings playing behind the flutes and clarinets, starting at 0:30 minutes and starting to separate into two pulses, two groups of instruments somewhere around 1:20 minutes. Over the steady throbbing sound, a sinuous melody unfolds.
In the 2013 Quartet, it’s two vibraphones and two pianos played in harmony as yoked pairs. It’s arranged in a typical Reichian pattern: first a fast, percussive movement, then a slower one, then fast again. Listening from one bar to the next, nothing much changes but over the course of a whole piece there are subtle, slow moving sea changes that transform what you hear to something new and, if not startling, it feels inevitable, as though in a profoundly altered way, Reich has taken to heart the lessons about numbers, ratios and progressions found throughout Bach’s inimitable music.
All of Reich’s music is not percussive, although a lot of it is, but ‘percussive’ is a good term to describe his approach. He uses instruments as much for their rhythmic potential as for melody or harmony. It’s especially noticeable in Quartet, where the percussive, hammering possibilities of the pianos are exploited to good effect against the more obviously hammered and percussive vibraphones. (A thought: mallet players must love Reich. Who else among contemporary composers uses vibes and marimbas as often or well as he does.)
How good is this album? It has more weight than, say, Tehillim, with which piece it has some things in common. But are these major pieces? No, but they’re darn good minor ones and lovely music. In short, this isn’t an indispensable album but it’s a good one and it reminds us that at 77 and 79 years of age, Reich’s age when these two pieces premiered, he was still creating eminently listenable works of genius.
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Top reviews from other countries
smartyfun
Two musically related pieces which are worth a listen
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 4, 2018
alandavid
Quietly inventive Reich
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 13, 2018
Stefano
Steve Reich continua a meravigliare
Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on February 2, 2018
