This Saturday, 29 April, Darragh Morgan will be performing Pierre Boulez’ Anthèmes 2 and Steve Reich’s Violin Phase at the launch concert for his new album “For Violin and Electronics”.
The concert takes place at the Iklectik in London.
Steve Reich turns 80 today – Universal Edition wishes him a very, very Happy Birthday!
Finally! Steve Reich's Clapping Music app is out today. Download it for free from the app store or find out more on www.clappingmusicapp.com.
High scorers on the app will be auditioned to perform the piece live with the London Sinfonietta in special events.
The London Sinfonietta has announced that it will release an app based on Steve Reich’s Clapping Music:
From the London Sinfonietta’s press release:
“We are hugely excited to announce that the London Sinfonietta will launch a gaming app in June, based on Steve Reich's Clapping Music.
Improve your rhythm by learning how to play his work through the touch of your iPhone. High scorers on the game will be auditioned to perform the piece live with the London Sinfonietta in special events.
We are working with the award-winning Touchpress and Queen Mary University of London on the project, one of 12 pioneering partnerships funded by the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts.
Visit www.clappingmusicapp.com for more information.”
Steve Reich’s intricate ‘phase’ technique is encapsulated in Clapping Music as one performer repeats the same line while the other moves out of synch and back again.
Sinfini Music has recently published a video series in which Steve and Colin demonstrate how Reich’s techniques work.
On 7 November, soloists of the ensemble intercontemporain present an evening with the music of Steve Reich and Morton Feldman. The concert takes place at the Amphithéâtre of the Cité de la musique, among the works performed will be Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood, Violin Phase and Morton Feldman’s Why patterns?.
On Sunday, 21 September, Steve Reich was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 58th International Festival of Contemporary Music of the Biennale di Venezia.
From the website of the Biennale Musica 2014:
“Steve Reich is the charismatic exponent of a new and original way of understanding music that has been embraced enthusiastically by a vast audience and has had a powerful influence on younger generations in America and abroad. His language, vibrating with a rhythmic pulsation that carries a powerful emotional impact, has been enriched over time, thanks to his refined and cultured experimentation, by experiences borrowed from various musical traditions that have inspired compositions now considered as contemporary ‘classics’.”
Previous UE composers who have received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement include Luciano Berio (1995), Friedrich Cerha (2006), György Kurtág (2009), Wolfgang Rihm (2010) and – most recently – Pierre Boulez (2012).
“What a wonderful afternoon. Hearing my second concert of Steve Reich, and then being able to tell him how he showed me how new music happens where it is never expected.” (Georg Friedrich Haas with Steve Reich, Brad Lubman and Joshua Fineberg)
Steve Reich is 75 years old today. Many happy returns!
UE is proud to publish some of Steve Reich’s most seminal works, including Clapping Music, Piano Phase and Violin Phase. See this page for details.
Our friends at Boosey & Hawkes have published an excellent video documentary about the man and his music.
Visit the Steve Reich website here.