Steve Reich @ Birmingham Town Hall

Pre-Concert Talk

Wednesday night I attended a concert of Steve Reich's music at Birmingham Town Hall. This concert featured an array of Reich's works, most notably his new piece Radio Rewrite, inspired by the music of Radiohead. This was only it's second live performance, after it's premiere in London.

I arrived early at the venue in order to attend the pre-concert talk between Steve Reich and Andrew Burke, chief executive of the London Sinfonietta, who were performing some of the music for the concert. This talk gave me a great insight into the personality of the composer, and of the thinking behind some of his most famous works.

Reich began by talking about Clapping Music, how it is derived from an African rhythm and how it marked his move away from the gradually phasing of earlier pieces to the more abrupt moving of a particular note value. He noted that his aim here was to choose a rhythm where the start and end would be ambiguous. This means that when the work is performed it is often difficult to hear that the second performer is actually still playing the same rhythm, but has just started in a different place. With music like this, the brain 'picks up' the rhythm from different places creating new rhythms and textures.

He also spoke at some length on his musical influences, and his move away from twelve-tone serialism. All the way back to medieval music composers would base their own compositions on existing folk or classical music. This methodology was stifled during the age of serialism, where Reich described the 'window being closed' to influences from other genres. He said that classical music under serialism had become too complex and niche, hence his move away from serialism and towards being one of the main pioneers of the minimalist movement.

When asked about his choice of instruments in his works, Reich professed to writing for instruments he felt comfortable with, and also his reasons for using smaller ensembles. The large orchestras which came about during the romantic era have too thick a sound to be able to hear the fine details, textures and rhythms in his music. Using smaller groups of instruments allows the voices to sing through, which would otherwise be stifled.

Due to the political nature of some of his works, Reich was asked whether he felt it was necessary for composers to write political material. His reply was 'absolutely not!', and when asked if he listens to his own music, he said he often listens to his own works on long car journeys, and that if you don't want to listen to music you've written, you shouldn't be writing it!

The Performance

The concert began with Clapping Music, in which Reich himself took part. I really enjoy this piece and how different textures appear throughout the performance. It was also obviously a great opportunity to see the composer himself perform the work.

Electric Counterpoint was next, performed by Swedish musician Mats Bergström. Having seen this piece performed the previous night on a xylosynth, I was able to form a comparison between the two pieces, which although the same in most respects, had different timbres and overall qualities to the sound due to the completely different instrumentation.

That piece was followed by 2x5, probably the one on the programme I was least familiar with (apart from the new work). I was already aware of the piece and had listened to it before but not very much at all. I particularly enjoyed hearing the clear rhythms of the drum kit. The piece, in typical Reich style, has a very 'clean and clear' sound, which is not usually the case in music where this instrument setup is mostly used such as rock bands.

After a short interval we were able to enjoy Reich's new work Radio Rewrite. This was only the second time the work had been performed in public, after it's premiere in London. I didn't of course know what the piece would sound like, but I had gleaned a few clues from the pre-concert talk, and also prior research on the internet. I knew the work would be in 5 movements, alternating Fast, Slow, Fast, Slow, Fast. I also knew that it had a very typical Reich sound, where he had borrowed some of the melodic and harmonic ideas from Radiohead's songs Jigsaw Falling into Place and Everything in its Right Place. Reich has said, on whether you can hear these songs in his piece, 'the truth is - sometimes you hear them and sometimes you don't.' Although I have listened to some Radiohead in the past, i'm not familiar enough with these songs to be able to hear them in Reich's piece, but what I do know is that I absolutely loved the work. It has a very 'dark' sound which appeals to me, and I also enjoyed the instrumentation of flute, clarinet, two vibes, two pianos, string quartet and electric bass.

The final work we heard was Double Sextet. This can be played either as a sextet playing against a tape of themselves or by twelve musicians, and it was the latter that we heard on the evening. The vibraphones and pianos are the driving force behind this piece, and really move the music along in a highly rhythmical way. This performance by the London Sinfonietta (who had also performed Radio Rewrite) was a great end to the concert.

I thoroughly enjoyed this concert of Steve Reich's music, and will definitely take the opportunity again when it arises. There are other pieces I'd really like to see in concert such as Drumming and Daniel Variations.