Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Reich at 70

On October 25th the Warrior Bard and I made the trek (in the rain) to St. Louis for the symphony which, in conjunction with Synergy Vocals, gave a concert celebrating Steve Reich's 70th birthday.

The concert was, for the most part, great. I'm not going to nitpick too much simply because I don't get to hear this kind of programming closer to home that often. It never struck me until the downbeat of the concert just how difficult Reich's music is to actually perform. I take it for granted because the recordings are all pristine and flawless yet still magical. Anyway, you could tell David Robertson and the performers were without a doubt committed to the performance even if it wasn't perfect.

The Program:

Proverb
City Life
New York Counterpoint
You Are (Variations)

I could go on and on about how great most of this music is, but that would be redundant.

It was a great show.

4 comments:

the warrior bard said...

So what's with your Mozart Year Countdown? What's that all aboot?

Herr Vogler said...

It's aboot freedom. It's aboot an end to musical oppression and tyrrany.

It's aboot my own little protest against the year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birthday.

the warrior bard said...

So the KC symphony has been doing Mozart for a year?!

the warrior bard said...

It's like an alternate universe for why I hate Ligeti.