Steve Reich with phase shifting pulse gate at the Whitney Museum
of American Art. © 1969 Richard Landry. Used with permission.
No form of classical music has exerted so enduring and pervasive an
influence on pop culture as minimalism. Kellogg's commercials and John
Carpenter movie sound tracks, New Age schlock and abstract hip-hop all
overtly cop such minimalist trademarks as repetitive keyboard vamps and
hallucinatory vocal cut-ups. Indeed, from its inception in the early
'60s, musical minimalism actively blurred the boundaries between
"high" and "mass" art, "classical" and "popular" music.3
- Art Forum |
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STEVE
REICH 'POP' QUIZ
In the spirit of all the celebrations honoring minimalist pioneer Steve
Reich, who turned 70 in October 2006, take a little quiz on his undeniable
influence on pop culture.
By Kevin Shihoten
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Steve Reich assembled a new music improvisation group in the 1960s that
included members of this psychedelic rock band.
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| 2. |
Reich inspired this English pop singer, whose music spans more than forty years.1
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Reich has also made an impression on this electronic musician, the father of
modern ambient music and producer of albums by Talking Heads and U2.
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| 4. |
The 1991 Orb single Little Fluffy Clouds includes
samples from PBS's Reading Rainbow and this Reich composition
from the 1980s.
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| 5. |
Formed in the 1980s, this leading alternative rock group
released a 1999 album of avant-garde classical works, including Reich's Pendulum
Music (1968).
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| 6. |
In 1999, Nonesuch Records released Reich Remixed,
an album of Reich's works by electronic musicians, including this
illbient
DJ whose name, according to Wikipedia, comes from a William S. Burroughs
novel.
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| 7. |
In the 2004 film adaptation of Michael Cunningham's
novel A Home at the End of the World, Bobby, played by Colin
Farrell, is entranced when introduced to this work Reich claims as
"undoubtedly one of the best pieces I've ever done."2
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The sounds of this indie-rocker from Detroit have
been compared to Reich, and have also been heard on FOX's The
OC. BSM's own Marla Hansen, Chris Jenkins, and Naho Tsutsui have performed with the artist.
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| 9. |
This 2005 film starring Patricia Clarkson (Six
Feet Under), Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don't Cry) and
Campbell Scott (Dying Young) is set almost entirely to
Reich's music.
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| 1 |
Haller, Mary. (1995, March 15). Composer Steve Reich is Abramowitz Lecturer. MIT News Office. Retrieved 3 November 2006.
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| 2 |
Schwarz, K. Robert (1997). Music for 18 Musicians, Revisited. In Music
for 18 Musicians (p. 7) [CD liner notes]. New York: Nonesuch
Records.
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| 3 |
Cox, Christoph. (March, 1999). Reich Remixed - Review. Art Forum.
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| 4 |
BBC Radio: Steve Reich at 70 |
| 5 |
Reich, Steve. Writings on Music, 1965-2000. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2002. |
| 6 |
Kim, Rebecca Y. From New York to Vermont: Conversation with Steve
Reich. October, 2000: http://www.stevereich.com. |
| 7 |
Wikipedia: Sufjan Stevens |
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