STEVE REICH Music for 18 Musicians LP NM/EX 1978 ECM Post-Modern, Minimal

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37

Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians [1978] Review by Blair Sanderson

If Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians is simply described in terms of its materials and organization -- 11 chords followed by 11 pieces built on those chords -- then it might seem utterly dry and monotonous. The actual music, though, is far from lackluster. When this recording was released in 1978, the impact on the new music scene was immediate and overwhelming. Anyone who saw potential in minimalism and had hoped for a major breakthrough piece found it here. The beauty of its pulsing added-note harmonies and the sustained power and precision of the performance were the music's salient features; and instead of the sterile, electronic sound usually associated with minimalism, the music's warm resonance was a welcome change. Yet repeated listening brought out a subtle and important shift in Reich's conception: the patterns were no longer static repetitions moving in and out of phase with each other, but were now flexible units that grew organically and changed incrementally over the course of the work. This discovery indicated a promising new direction for Reich, one that put him ahead of his peers by giving his music greater interest and adaptability and led to the more elaborate works of the next two decades.

Steve Reich – Music For 18 Musicians

Label:

ECM Records – ECM-1-1129

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo

Country:

US

Released:

1978

Genre:

Classical

Style:

Post-Modern, Minimal, Contemporary

A Pulse - Sections I - IV 26:55

B Sections V - XI - Pulse 32:00

Licensed From – Polydor International Gmbh

Phonographic Copyright ℗ – ECM Records GmbH

Copyright © – ECM Records GmbH

Copyright © – Steve Reich

Manufactured By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.

Distributed By – Warner Bros. Records Inc.

Published By – Reich Music Publications

Lacquer Cut At – Wakefield Manufacturing – 33678

Pressed By – Wakefield Manufacturing – 33678

Record Company – Warner Communications

Cello – Ken Ishii (2)

Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Richard Cohen, Virgil Blackwell

Composed By – Steve Reich

Cover [Cover Drawing] – Beryl Korot

Design – Paula Bisacca

Engineer [Recording] – Klaus Hiemann

Lacquer Cut By – JB*

Marimba, Maracas – Gary Schall

Marimba, Xylophone – Bob Becker, Glen Velez, Russ Hartenberger

Marimba, Xylophone, Piano – David Van Tieghem

Mastered By – JB*

Metallophone, Piano – James Preiss

Mixed By – Rudolph Werner*, Klaus Hiemann, Steve Reich

Performer – Steve Reich And Musicians

Photography By [Backliner Photos] – Bernard Perrine, Betty Freeman, Guido Harari, Mary Lucier, Patrick Bertrand, Roberto Masotti

Piano – Nurit Tilles, Steve Chambers

Piano, Maracas – Larry Karush

Piano, Marimba – Steve Reich

Producer – Rudolph Werner*

Recording Supervisor [Production and Recording Supervision] – Rudolph Werner*

Sleeve Notes – Steve Reich

Violin – Shem Guibbory

Voice – Elizabeth Arnold, Pamela Fraley, Rebecca Armstrong

Voice, Piano – Jay Clayton

The World Premiere of "Music for 18 Musicians" was presented at Town Hall in New York in April 1976 and the European Premiere was presented at the Metamusik Festival in Berlin in October of the same year.

Runouts etched except for stamped Wakefield "tulip" logo

Cover Drawing: "Weaver's Notation", Beryl Korot (1976)

© ℗ 1978 ECM Records GmbH

Manufactured under license from Polydor International GmbH

© 1978 Steve Reich

Manufactured and distributed by Warner Bros. Records Inc. a Warner Communications Company

Printed in U.S.A

This is the green label stock copy. Promotional copies also exist of this issue that are identical but have a "Promotional Copy Not For Sale" reflective stamp on the top left of the front cover.

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 1): ECM-1-1129A [tulip symbol] 33678 MO#6 #1 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 1): ECM-1-1129B MO#6 JB #1 [tulip symbol] 33678

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 2): ECM-1-1129A MO#5 [tulip symbol] 33678 #4 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 2): ECM-1-1129B #6 [tulip symbol] 33678 MO#4 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 3): ECM-1-1129 MO#5 [tulip symbol] 33678

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 3): ECM-1-1129B #5 [tulip symbol] MO#2

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 4): ECM-1-1129A MO#5 [tulip symbol] 33678 #9 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 4): ECM-1-1129B MO#6 JB [tulip symbol]33678 #2

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 5): JB ECM-1-1129A #5 [tulip symbol] 33678 mo #3

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 5): ECM-1-1129B mo #3 JB [tulip symbol] 33678 mo #3

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 6): JB ECM-1-1129A MO#5 #6 [tulip symbol] 33678

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 6): ECM-1-1129B JB #2 [tulip symbol] 33678 mo #5

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 7): ECM-1-1129A [tulip symbol] 33678 MO#6 #8 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 7): ECM-1-1129B MO#6 #8 JB [tulip symbol] 33678

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 8): ECM-1-1129A [tulip symbol] 33678 MO#7 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 8): [tulip symbol] 33678 ECM-1-1129B #4 MO#7 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side A Runout, Variant 9): ECM-1-1129A [tulip symbol] 33678 MO#7 #1 JB

Matrix / Runout (Side B Runout, Variant 9): ECM-1-1129B #4 MO#7 JB [tulip symbol] 33678

Rights Society: BMI/AMRA