I don’t mean to be obsessing about CSULB but its newly established Bob Cole Conservatory of Music has been presenting a whole slew of incredible music performances lately. Coming up on Monday, March 2, the Cal Arts based group 18 Squared will be performing what may be my all time favorite piece of music: Music For 18 Musicians by Steve Reich.
Reich, one of the ‘big three’ American modern classical minimalist composers (along with Philip Glass and Terry Riley), is known for creating wonderfully complex music by shifting simple repeating patterns in relation to each other, not unlike a choral ‘round.’ He’s explored this in his early audio tape compositions, and exploded it for full orchestral grandeur in The Desert Music, but Music for 18 Musicians is, for many, his seminal work.
I liken his music to driving along I-15, where objects close to the road whiz by and more distant objects move more slowly. His music pulses with polyrhythms and, while there is no melody to speak of, there is beautiful harmonic interplay between the various instruments: 2 pianos (occasionally played by more than 2 people), female voices, marimbas, metalphones, xylophones, cello, violin, maracas, clarinet, and bass clarinet.
The piece is highly organic. The natural breath of the singers and clarinetists determines the length of specific phrases, and each component stands in support of the whole.
In one particularly transportive moment there are four piano parts being played. Occasionally, the same note will be played at the same time in two different parts. That note will be a bit louder than the others. Sometimes three notes will sound simultaneously, and sometimes four. These layers of volume allow new musical patterns to emerge.
I’ll admit that minimalism generally isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and this piece can be challenging for some, but it is very musical, beautiful, and not at all atonal or especially dissonant. If you’re musically adventurous, and you have an interest in modern music or minimalism, this is a rare and wonderful opportunity to experience one of the great 20th Century compositions performed live, by extremely skilled and enthusiastic musicians.