Steve Reich: Music For 18 Musicians

Studio for Contemporary Music, Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana
The University of Music and Performing Arts Graz
The University of Music and Theatre Munich 
Fourklor dance company and choreographer Branko Potočan
Project managers: Luka Juhart, Simon Klavžar

Programme:
Steve Reich: Drumming, for ensemble, Part 1: 4 pairs of tuned bongo drums (1971)
Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians (1976)

The concert forms part of the series Zvokotok at CD. 

Steve Reich's 1976 masterpiece, Music for 18 Musicians is one of the landmarks of twentieth-century music and arguably this composer’s most popular and best-known work. Drawing inspiration from West African music and the Indonesian gamelan, Reich – one of the founders of minimalism – created a microcosm of rhythmic sounds and repetitive patterns: each of the eleven sections is based on a particular chord, and all the instruments and voices play or sing the pulsating notes with each chord, resulting in a vibrantly coloured evocation of non-Western music, classical music and jazz – without sounding like any of these. This iconic composition, which has influenced a whole generation of young composers and pop musicians, will receive its Slovenian premiere in a performance by the combined ensemble of the Ljubljana Academy of Music, the University of Music and Theatre Munich and the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, as well as the members of the Fourklor dance company and choreographer Branko Potočan. The concert will begin with the composition Drumming, i.e. Part I for 4 pairs of tuned bongo drums, another of Reich’s works reflecting African influences, impressions from the composer’s visit to West Africa, which has been termed “minimalism’s first masterpiece” by music critic K. Robert Schwarz.