Steve Reich
Music For 18 Musicians (LP)
FormatLPLabelECM RecordsGenreExperimental
Out of stock
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condition (record/cover): NM / EX
The first ECM release of Reich's music, and one of the recordings that defined the late-seventies new-music landscape. Recorded at Big Apple Studios, New York, with members of Steve Reich and Musicians: Reich and Nurit Tilles on pianos, Bob Becker, Russ Hartenberger, Glen Velez and James Preiss on mallets, Pamela Fraley, Jay Clayton, Rebecca Armstrong and Elizabeth Arnold on voice, Virgil Blackwell and Richard Cohen on clarinets, Shem Guibbory on violin, Ken Ishii on cello.
Reich wrote Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76) around a cycle of eleven chords played at the start and end of the piece; each chord becomes the harmonic centre of one of eleven sections. The pulsing breath-led "human cadence" (singers and clarinettists sustain notes for the length of one breath) gives the piece its distinctive respiratory quality. ECM's typography-led sleeve under Manfred Eicher's production aesthetic became as canonical as the music. The work has since received multiple recordings; this remains the document of the original ensemble.
Release notes
"The composition of "Music for 18 Musicians" was supported by grants from: Mrs. Betty Freeman, The Rockefeller Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts Grants to Composers 1974 and '76, and the New York State Council on the Arts Creative Artists Public Service Program 1974-75. The World Premiere of "Music for 18 Musicians" was presented at Town Hall in New York in April 1976 and the European Premiere was presented at the Metamusik Festival in Berlin in October of the same year. ECM…
| A | Pulse - Sections I - IV | 26:55 | |
| B | Sections V - X - Pulse | 32:00 |
- Ken Ishii
- Cello
- Richard Cohen
- Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
- Virgil Blackwell
- Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
- Steve Reich
- Composed By, Sleeve Notes, Mixed By [Mixing], Piano, Marimba
- Beryl Korot
- Cover, Artwork [Cover Drawing]
- Paula Bisacca
- Design
- Klaus Hiemann
- Engineer [Recording Engineer], Mixed By [Mixing]
- Gary Schall
- Marimba, Maracas
- Bob Becker
- Marimba, Xylophone
- Glen Velez
- Marimba, Xylophone
- Russ Hartenberger
- Marimba, Xylophone
- David Van Tieghem
- Marimba, Xylophone, Piano
- James Preiss
- Metallophone, Piano
- Rudolph Werner
- Mixed By [Mixing], Producer [Production], Recording Supervisor [Recording Supervision]
- Steve Reich and Musicians
- Performer
- Bernard Perrine
- Photography By [Backliner Photos]
- Betty Freeman
- Photography By [Backliner Photos]
- Guido Harari
- Photography By [Backliner Photos]
- Mary Lucier
- Photography By [Backliner Photos]
- Patrick Bertrand
- Photography By [Backliner Photos]
- Roberto Masotti
- Photography By [Backliner Photos]
- Nurit Tilles
- Piano
- Steve Chambers
- Piano
- Larry Karush
- Piano, Maracas
- Shem Guibbory
- Violin
- Elizabeth Arnold
- Voice
- Pamela Fraley
- Voice
- Jay Clayton
- Voice, Piano
