Carnegie Hall Presents All Steve Reich Program

Percussionists Colin Currie and Daniel Druckman join pianists Simon Crawford-Phillips and Philip Moore along with vocalistsSarah Brailey and Jamie Jordan and students from the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble for a program celebrating the music of composer Steve Reich on Wednesday, October 29 at 8:00 p.m. in Zankel Hall. The concert includes the US premiere of Quartet, co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall, along with Mr. Reich's groundbreaking classics Clapping Music andDrumming. A pre-concert talk will be held in Zankel Hall with Mr. Reich and Mr. Currie in conversation with Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean of The Juilliard School.

Steve Reich's music has been influential to composers and mainstream musicians all over the world. He is a leading pioneer of minimalism, having in his youth broken away from the establishment that, at that time, was serialism. His music is known for steady pulse, repetition, and a fascination with canons; it combines rigorous structures with propulsive rhythms and seductive instrumental color. It also embraces harmonies of non-Western and American vernacular music (especially jazz). His studies have included the Gamelan, African drumming (at the University of Ghana), and traditional forms of chanting the Hebrew scriptures.

Describing his new Quartet, Mr. Reich said, "The piece is one of the more complex I have composed. It frequently changes key and often breaks off continuity to pause or take up new material. Though the parts are not unduly difficult, it calls for a high level of ensemble virtuosity.

"The piece is dedicated to Colin Currie, a percussionist who has broken the mold by maintaining his solo career with orchestras and recitals and also, quite amazingly, by founding the Colin Currie Group which plays whatever ensemble music he believes in. I salute him and hope others will take note."

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