Track Listing

1. Pulses
2. Section I
3. Section II
4. Section IIIA
5. Section IIIB
6. Section IV
7. Section V
8. Section VI
9. Section VII
10. Section VIII
11. Section IX
12. Section X
13. Section XI
14. Pulses

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47533 in Music
• Released on: 1998-03-31
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
The pulsations of Steve Reich's landmark Music for 18 Musicians signify a New Music precipice. Where so much music after World War II explored extremes of tone, time, and register, Reich--and some of his colleagues in the 1960s and after--gravitated towards immersion in repetitions and telescoped focus on tonal areas. The combination of piano, vibraphone, marimba, xylophone, clarinets, violin, cello, and female voices is intoxicating in Reich's hands. Reich creates a middle-register, ringing vamp with burnished reed palpitations and, eventually, quick, rolling piano figures emerge in tandem with the percussion. This recording is the second-best known, next to the ECM Records version of the piece, and is warm and colorfully tingling. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Shimmering & luminous!
What can I add to so many insightful 5-star reviews?

Just that this work has an astonishing, subtle, hypnotic beauty that remains fresh & revelatory after countless listens. Its deceptive simplicity constantly reveals new touches, and carries the enraptured listener to some transcendant place ... except that the word "listener" falls woefully short. This music isn't simply listened to, it's experienced at a very deep & dreamlike level, like a nebula of pure white light shot through with golden mist. And when I stop to contemplate the virtuosity of the musicians, I'm astonished all over again.

This might not be for every taste, but for those who are open to a visionary mode of being, this music is both gateway & voyage. Highly recommended!

Does it Expand or Contract?

This is no ordinary piece of music. It is hypnotic and beautiful, as most other reviewers point out. It can put all other music out of your mind for periods of time; you only want to stay in the trance.

There are light and dark energies at play in this music. The elements of light are held in the beautiful syntax of rhythm and melody. You might find yourself singing or whistling along very intensely, and even creating new layers to the music with your voice. The elements of darkness are represented as a sense of neurotic insanity, or obsessive particularity.

To be hyptotized for its own sake is dangerous. What is behind this hypnosis? What energy is being expressed here? As you move into your third and fourth listen, ask yourself whether you feel expansion or contraction.

For those who are interested in trance states and deep inward gazing, this recording is definitely an experience worth having. If nothing else, it can remind us that music is awesomely powerful.

majestic
This recording is a perfect example of how Reich has influenced instrumental/classical music. Its seems as if every movie released in the last ten years has soundtrack recordings that try to imitate Reich, like the movie American Beauty. While people buy these soundtrack recordings, they often do not even know who Steve Reich is or where there imitation music came from. This is one of the best recordings for anyone knew to this music, and should not be considered as minimalist. I agree with Philip Glass, who believes the word minimalist is not an adequate term.
The term minimalist seems to indicate simplicity or shallowness, but this music is neither. This is in fact very deep and moving music, full of emotion and dynamic ideas.