Week One - Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

Today I listened for the first time to Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians. This was a performance by The Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble. This is such a fascinating work! The old western music notion of tension and release, dissonance into consonance, is totally absent. What there is is a driving, hypnotic, pulsing music that lasts one hour, and it is exhilarating! The sensation of flying kept coming into my consciousness as I listened. Gliding might be a better word because even though it's fast rhythmically, with syncopated lines weaving around the steady pulse, the harmonic motion and dynamic motion is very slow and thus it's like one is effortlessly gliding supported by the wind (fast pulse). It's fast and slow at the same time! The image of an albatross flying for hours at a time also came to mind. Of course, the music itself is not about anything and that's one of the wonderful aspects about music, it's meaning will change from listener to listener. The ensemble was not always precise but having played music like this myself I know how taxing it can be and overall I found it to be very good. I look forward to hearing other recordings of this highly energetic, ecstatic, meditative and even blissful work. High praise? Well, go listen for yourself!