Steve Reich – 10 of the best
The composer – one of the founders of minimalism – has been at the forefront of contemporary music for over 50 years. On the day he turns 80, here are 10 works mapping his remarkable creative...
View ArticleSteve Reich: the composer with his finger on the pulse
Reich showed the world the hypnotic pleasures of repetition as his music took in religion, politics and New York city life – and aged 80, he’s still moving forward“For 30 years I walked around...
View ArticleSteve Reich's 80th birthday celebration review – patchy tribute to music icon
A slew of pieces threw up some hits and misses, yet all served to remind us of the challenging and daring oeuvre that the experimental composer still mastersSteve Reich’s late period has been one of...
View ArticleSteve Reich at 80 review – surging, pulsing energy
Barbican, LondonThe Britten Sinfonia and LSO celebrated the breadth of the composer’s groundbreaking career in two concerts across a weekend marking the Reich’s 80th. The three senior statesmen of...
View ArticleMaya Beiser: ‘I think I was born a nonconformist’
The boundary-crossing cellist on her kibbutz childhood, working with Steve Reich – and making high drama out of performanceThe New York-based cellist Maya Beiser grew up on a kibbutz in Galilee, Israel...
View ArticleLPO/Haslam review – faith, hope and pure minimalism
Royal Festival Hall, LondonThe London Philharmonic and Synergy Vocals made a strong, evocative impression with works by Steve Reich and Gavin BryarsLike belief itself, it seems that the Southbank...
View ArticleThe perfect score? How composers are taking pop festivals by storm
Hollywood soundtrack maestro Hans Zimmer was an unexpected smash at Coachella – but he’s not the first orchestral artist to cross over. Are classical musicians picking up where DJs left off?Related:...
View ArticleRain review – a brief shower is enough
Sadler’s Wells, LondonAnne Teresa de Keersmaeker weaves a compelling spell to Steve Reich’s music, but the resulting downpour is unrelentingRain was created in 2001 by the Belgian choreographer Anne...
View ArticleSteve Reich: Pulse/Quartet review – impressive, but better heard live
(Nonesuch)One of the great minimalists alongside Philip Glass and Terry Riley, Steve Reich remains heroically unafraid of the blank page. The 81-year-old may no longer rewrite the rules of modern...
View ArticleReich: Pulse/Quartet CD review – pitch perfect performances
International Contemporary Ensemble/Colin Currie Group(Nonesuch)Plus: Colin Currie Group - Steve Reich’s DrummingOver the past 40 years there have been many pieces by Steve Reich that could...
View ArticleAdventures in motion and pitches: how minimalism shook up classical music
Conductor Charles Hazlewood on the sounds that sparked a cultural revolution and redrew musical boundariesWhen I was an organ scholar at Oxford University in the late 80s the very idea that Kraftwerk...
View ArticleConcrete Dreams: new show celebrates Southbank's history of performance
Exclusive: exhibition looks back on London cultural centre’s legacy through 50 years of archive material An innovative new exhibition at London’s Southbank Centre gives visitors a performer’s...
View ArticleLSO/Järvi review – incoherent and self-regarding; even Reich's premiere fails
Barbican, LondonA programme of new works was consistent only in how it disappointed, with Järvi’s own overlong composition particularly tryingKristjan Järvi has become one of the London Symphony...
View ArticleThe week in classical: Akhnaten; Music for 18 Musicians; Britten Sinfonia;...
Coliseum; Royal Festival Hal; Wigmore Hall; Barbican, LondonMinimalism becomes spectacle in ENO’s entrancing Philip Glass revival, while many hands make hypnotically light work of Steve ReichTwo giants...
View ArticleHold on to your hard hats: New York's $475m Shed throws open its doors
The escalators need fixing and there’s no bar – but the show must go on, as stars from Ben Whishaw to Steve McQueen open NYC’s first major new arts venue for decadesBen Whishaw is on stage, stripped to...
View ArticleSandbox Percussion / Astrid review – virtuosos bring the fun of the fairground
Various venues, Cardiff and the Vale of GlamorganVale of Glamorgan festival celebrates its 50th with mesmerising performances on wine glasses, electronic inventions and a Dutch street organ named...
View ArticleThe best classical music works of the 21st century
Over the coming week, the Guardian will select the greatest culture since 2000, carefully compiled by critics and editors. We begin with a countdown of defining classical music compositions, from...
View ArticleReich/Richter review – two artists with the power to disrupt time and space
Barbican, LondonAn ever-shifting new composition by Steve Reich is set to a Rorschach-like new film by Gerhard Richter, with wonderfully disorientating, hypnotic resultsThis collaboration between the...
View ArticleThe week in classical: The Mask of Orpheus; Reich/Richter – review
Coliseum; Barbican, LondonHarrison Birtwistle’s monumental early opera is revived in an epic tussle between myth, meaning, the lustrous and the lurid. Plus, a sensory feast with Steve Reich and Gerhard...
View ArticleHome listening: Tchaikovsky, Babajanian and Debussy
An outstanding disc of piano trios from Gluzman, Moser and Sudbin, a world premiere Debussy recording from the Hallé, and Steve Reich at MoMA• Tchaikovsky disapproved of the piano trio, describing the...
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