Those who dropped by the New England Conservatory November 28-29, 2007, had the chance to enjoy several works by Steve Reich. Even more exciting was that the baseball-cap-sporting composer himself attended the mini-festival, and audiences were treated to the rare experience (in classical music) of applauding the man who wrote the music.
Each day was divided into two concert sets: First, a shorter concert was held at 5pm in the NEC's smaller, more intimate Brown Hall. The second, slightly longer concert took place at 8pm in the impressively gilded Jordan Hall.
NEC's location in a college town and thriving center of classical music meant that the Reich mini-festival was well attended. Though everyone could find a seat in Jordan Hall, latecomers were standing in the aisles for the Brown Hall concerts. NEC's labyrinth buildings were not quite suited to handling the pre-concert queue: the line stretched down halls and up stairwells and wrapped around again.
Piano Phase and Different Trains
Those who managed to find a seat on Wednesday afternoon were treated to a performance of Piano Phase and Different Trains. The first piece exhibited Reich's experiments in phasing, or having 2 performers play identical patterns first in sync and then out of sync with each other.
The second piece incorporated mixed tape with live performance. With recordings of Reich's governess, a Pullman porter and Holocaust survivors, Reich compares and contrasts the differing experiences of American Jewish and European Jewish train travelers during World War II.
Six Pianos and Music for 18 Musicians
The Wednesday evening concert featured Six Pianos and Music for Eighteen Musicians. The idea for the first piece came while Reich was in a piano store. Though the laws of acoustics prevented him from writing a piece that included every piano in the shop (too many pianos would sound muddled), he did write one for half a dozen instruments, a manageable but energetic number.
On the other hand, what keeps Music for Eighteen Musicians from disintegrating into sonic mush is the diversity of timbre: scored for violin, cello, 2 clarinets doubling bass clarinet, 4 women's voices, 4 pianos, 3 marimbas, 2 xylophones and metallophone, the work is unusual in its ratio of percussion to strings. The clarinets and voices experiment with pulsating rhythmic patterns based on breath duration.
Violin Phase and Drumming
On Thursday afternoon, 4 violinists performed the classic Violin Phase and 12 musicians performed Drumming. The latter piece explores relations of sound and silence: the performers play similar patterns, but at different times. Since the rests of one performer are filled by beats from another performer, the piece demonstrates Reich's interest in using beats for rests.
Triple Quartet, City Life and Daniel Variations
Thursday evening was the culmination of the festival: not only were the Kronos-commissioned Triple Quartet and the New York-inspired mix tape piece City Life on the program, but audience members were treated to the Boston premiere of the Daniel Variations (2006).
Inspired by both the Scriptures of Reich's Jewish heritage and the Jewish American Daniel Pearl (killed in Pakistan by Islamist extremists in 2002), the last piece vacillates between terror and triumph, minor and major.
The musicians at the New England Conservatory captured the frenetic, pulsating energy that characterizes so much of the music of Reich (a percussionist). The Reich mini-festival is only one of many free concerts offered by the NEC. Residents of Boston should review the NEC website for details.
Sources
Reich, Steve. "The Composer's Notes." Document provided at concert Nov. 28-29, 2007.
New England Conservatory website.
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