One Night Stand: Steve Reich

Heritage Hall
October 3, 2006 7:00pm

A new music series called Music on Main debuts with a tribute concert to composer Steve Reich in celebration of his 70th birthday. This concert featured his most well known pieces as well as new material.

The concert started off with Come Out, his seminal experiment with tape loops. Using modern music technology instead, the piece was performed by a 15-inch MacBook Pro. Are you supposed to clap after a computer finishes playing?

Next was Piano Phase performed on two marimbas by Vern Griffiths and Lauri Lyster. The shifting phase of the musical lines on the marimbas generated beat frequencies of harp-like sounds in between the striking of the keys. An amazing effect from a beautiful and beautifully constructed piece.

What is the sound of four hands clapping? Clapping Music is a short but delightful piece which answers this question with two musicians, Lauri Lyster and Robin Reid. At times they sounded like more than four hands clapping, as the rhythms and textures were rich and mesmerizing. I guess there was a good reason Reich kept it a short piece as it looked quite tiring even for two seasoned percussionists.

The format of the evening was to have a 15 minute or so break every hour. It made for a long but very relaxed evening. Very civilized indeed to enjoy a chat and a libation with the musicians.

The next hour continued on with Different Trains performed by the Penderecki String Quartet with recorded elements. The piece strongly conveys trains in motion, and has a restless feel to it.

The penultimate hour brought eight cellos onto stage for the Canadian Premiere of Reich's newer work Cello Counterpoint. From eight cellos to eight bongos–four pairs of tuned bongos were brought onto stage for Drumming: Part One. The careful tuning paid off as the phase shifting pattern effect was conjured up with precise percussion.

The final part of the concert featured the avant-jazz Coat Cooke Trio performing improvisations on Reich's music. I noticed that not everyone stayed for the improv jazz portion of the evening as we were getting into the fourth hour. Nonetheless, they sounded great with lots of interesting patterns and textures. Clyde Reed played his double bass in a most unique way with the back handle of the bow tapping and plucking on the strings at the bridge.

Overall, an auspicious beginning to this new music series. I look forward to hearing more great music from Music on Main.