Composer: Steve Reich, Performer: Steve Reich Ensemble - Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

This has to be Steve Reich's most difficult work to perform; but he's done it. Several times. Music for 18 Musicians is for violin, cello, two clarinets doubling bass clarinet, four women's voices, four pianos, three marimbas, two xylophones, and a metallophone (vibraphone with no motor). It's a 1974 composition that focuses entirely on the rich staccato that gives minimalism its unique sound. However, Reich turns all of this into actual music by adding the richness of the metallophone and the women's voices. Whatever else people may have said about minimalism, pro or con, a work such as Music for 18 Musicians demonstrates its legitimacy. --Paul Cook Amazon.com

Sonic Masterpiece

Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians is a fantastically gorgeous work of art. If you found Steve Reich via Eno, note that this is a bit less "ambient" than much of Brian Eno's work. The hour-long song flows together seamlessly as Reich weaves layers of instrumentation through your ears. However, the music is never repetitive enough to be hypnotic; throughout, the music changes subtly, in very fascinating ways, so that you could probably focus on it for the whole hour and still be interested. If you enjoy this album, I might also recommend Max Richter, whom I believe was a student of Reich. January 3, 2009

Amazing! Just what I thought it would be!

I heard parts of this cd on a show on npr radio and was intrigued enough to look it up and order a copy. The entire cd is a beautiful flow of and interesting mix of instruments not really like anything else I've heard. It's relaxing and inspiring at the same time. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys instrumental music that is much more than the usual. March 8, 2008

Entertaining, if approached as proto-dance music instead of modern-classical

As a fan of modern-classical music I've often considered the minimalism of Steve Reich to be a disappointing path. I'd much rather listen to the complexity-in-cosmic-unity of Per Norgard, the frenetic textures of Magnus Lindberg or Pierre Boulez, or the zahlenmystik in the unabashedly Orthodox music of Sofia Gubaidulina. Yet, I'm also an occasional listener of progressive house music, and viewed from this perspective MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS is a interesting work indeed.

The hour-long work was written in 1976, and was the final statement in a musical line Reich had been following for nearly a decade. This is music as a process, where 11 chords are introduced at the beginning, and then each is slowly explored in turn over the piece. Yet, this is far from dry or boring, though it could certainly be called repetitive. For me, the piece is remarkable for sounding like the intelligent dance music which reached maturity two decades later. The steady tempo of the word makes it danceable. The eerie vocal writing and peculiar instrumental effects look forward to the exploitation of electronics. And each of the eleven sections is about as long as, and fades out similarly to a track in a house set.

There's little chance that most house producers have heard this work, but the idea of inducing an enchanting hypnotic effect through repetition and a hi-end and bass double hit could understandably have come to different people independently. Nonetheless, if you're a fan of late 90s/early 2000s progressive house, the sort pitched by Anthony Pappa, John Digweed, and Danny Howells at the time, I'd recommend MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS for the mere pleasure of hearing these effects coming live from an acoustic ensemble.

For that other crowd, fans of new music, a better introduction to Steve Reich might be the Variations disc in Deutsche Grammophon's "Echo 20/21" series, which contains three works and gives a larger view of his early pieces (I found the DG "Echo 20/21" disc Drumming disc disappointing, however). Still, MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS is an entertaining work, and might be worth a listen. April 24, 2007

Great stuff

This is really my favourite minimalist recording. I never warmed up to Philip Glass' stuff but this is really one exceptional piece of work. It completely blew my mind when i bought this twenty years ago and I was in a new wave and punk phase. This is really what this kind of music should be like. This is a completely indispensable CD to any collection. January 20, 2007

Disappointing

After my disappointment with Seve Reich's recording called "Drumming" I looked forward to this CD to justify the money I spent on both CDs. No such luck. This one sounded so much like the other one that we had to check to be sure which one was on. If therer are 18 musicians playing this music, they must have a very strong union because the other 13 or more must have been in another room taking a prolonged break. We istened to the "Music for 18 Musicians" again by mistake, and then put it both CDs in a place where we would never do it again. My wife, two sons who are a freshman and a senior in college, and I enjoy music and have a wide range of tastes in music. None of us could tolerate either of Steve Reich's CDs, must less like it. Don't buy a Steve Reich CD without listening to it first. January 11, 2007

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