TS: Steve Reich v. Philip Glass

my reich recommendations:
early works - "come out", "its gonna rain", "piano phase"
drumming
music for 18 musicians
music for mallets, voices, (umm... something else)
electr(on?)ic counterpoint
pendulum music
four organs (i LOVE this one, maybe after hearing some more reich, youll like this one better...)

My favourite Glass soundtrack is Mishima, I love that music so much.

I don't feel like I know enough Reich to make a fair comparison, but I'd give it to Glass anyway because of Mishima and the endlessly replayable Einstein on the Beach.

Personally, I prefer the somewhat-Glass-like Gorecki to both of them--but I am no expert and constantly wish that I knew more about contemporary classical music.

Have you heard the stuff on 'Early Works'? "Piano Phase" and "It's Going to Rain Pt. 2" mess me up every time. I recently got the Nonesuch box set, working my way through it.

Einstein took me a fair bit of listening before I began to really enjoy it. At first it sounded like a trebly messy blur that was pretty annoying in places. And now it's started to make sense, like I'm hearing under the Formalism or picking up the subtle shifts in the riffs, it's increasingly beautiful. My advice is persevere.

But I used to love Einstein on the Beach. I'm sure it must have been one of my favorite pieces of music for at least a few years. It's hard to say what changed about the way I heard it, since I haven't been listening lately. And actually, minimalism in general has lost much of its interest for me. I'm almost afraid every time I dip back in to Reich that I will find I like his work a bit less.

steve reich on the other hand didn't quite capture my attention in the beginning. there was something mechanic about his music. weirdly enough i chose his drumming album as my favourite record from 1974 recently. though it is extremely constructed it gives me the feeling of a natural rhythm which grabs me. the rhythm of the beating heart or something like that. i ask myself how much the fact that reich spent some time in west africa to study drumnming plays a role for my appreciation of that album. so it definitely is reich for me.

I could post paragraphs but I've humiliated myself on ILM before lashing out at Glass. he's basically filled the racks with so much emptiness since the mid-80's that his reputation's taken a beating, and the early stuff is in need of critical re-evaluation. the best of it is still really beautifully written music that I still love, short list being Einstein, North Star, Mishima.

Reich seems to have held true to his inner voice a little more, he kept doing interesting things. I rank Desert Music with 18 Musicians, Four Organs and Drumming. and the first movement of The Four Sections is absolutely beautiful.

Milton, I bought one of Reich's most recent CDs and actually sold it, something I almost never do.

But I'm a big fan of both, and as discussed in some old thread, saw them perform on the same night! Reich was first and Glass was last, perhaps so they didn't have to be in the same building at the same time?

in one way I really like the way his melody-extraction-from-speech-samples brings his whole career full cycle back to the early tape-loop-phasing pieces; it makes perfect conceptual sense, and he was heading that way in any case with Desert Music. But I don't always like the results! (there's a whole genre of this kind of music showing the breadth of what's possible -- Scott Johnson's 'John Somebody' did it better first, and Rene Lussier's "Le tresor de la langue" is particularly incredible because he _really_ notates the melody -- most people smooth microtonal speech inflections into whatever key they've already decided they're working in, but Lussier is a fuckin' surgeon with unbelievable precision, and the results are just baffling, that is one overlooked masterpiece of a record to be sure...)

Three Tales is the one I really didn't like, especially since I thought the DVD wasn't so great. I was suprised by the use of these crappy effects...then read Beryl Kerot talking somewhere about how she wasn't up to date on the technology. I think gathering the footage and editing it is enough, we don't need Amiga Video Toaster After Effects action!

Glad you mention John Somebody, when I was in high school I bought this Nonesuch sampler, which turned me onto Reich to begin with, and that was on there. I got rid of the CD years ago, and have been looking for John Somebody for the past few years. Will check out Lussier, totally unfamliar.

I like different periods of Glass, I like the early stuff, I like Einstein, I even like the photographer, but the most recent stuff I've heard was pretty middle of the road.

But I agree, I mean, Reich's concerns have been the same since day one and yet his music has evolved in many different ways.

Can I mention again that Reich's Four Organs are gathering dust in the basement of his apt building and in tribute to that piece and a Robert Smithson piece where a photograph is torn in four, Lee Ranaldo took a photo of the organs, tore them, placed them in a glassine and signed and numbered them, and my timing was such that he sent me one. Considering the impact Sonic Youth had on me in the beginning of High School and what Steve Reich had on me at the end, I prize this artifact dearly!

I'm surprised Dleone isn't more into Reich. I know it's not the exact right forum for it, but Dominique--good work on your recent full-length. I've played some of your earlier stuff for people over the years (since the PFMS days) to always interesting effect.