Steve Reich - Piano Phase (1967) [audio + score]

Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. His compositional style reflects his explicit rejection of Western classical traditions, serialism, and indeterminacy, because, unlike these traditions, he sought to create music in which the compositional process was discernible in the music itself. Reich describes this concept in his essay, "Music as a Gradual Process", by stating, "I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music." To do so, his music employs the technique of phase shifting, in which a phrase is slightly altered over time, in a flow that is clearly perceptible to the listener. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns, as on the early compositions It's Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966), and the use of simple, audible processes, as on Pendulum Music (1968) and Four Organs (1970). The 1978 recording Music for 18 Musicians would help entrench minimalism as a movement. Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage, notably Different Trains (1988).

Peter Aidu, pianos

[gregarnold]

Being a kid in the 70s and learning of this opened the door to your imagination

[jotaro]

My adhd brain is really loving this, i can sleep to it. 😂

[alvarholma]

Hey everyone!!! Doing this by myself with 2 pianos is on my bucket list

[daegabmusic]

Amazing! It's all compressed within a single octave! The lowest note is the E above middle C... the "bass line" is mostly alternating E and F#. I'm playing along with it (guitar), trying to discern (by ear) different lines in the mix and picking them up (the bass line is the easiest). I love Steve Reich... can't get enough!

[internaute]

It seems that it inspired Hans Zimmer on "Cornfield Chase" (2014).

[ufox]

Next try playing this video on two devices to your left and right, with a lag of about 20 seconds between them 😃

[tedpiano]

Can someone make a follow-up piece where it's piano phase but for 8 pianists, and at the peak of the piece, every part is playing a different line?

[Robleh]

why would this be minimal? to me, this is the height of complexity. Just b/c it uses the basic units of sounds in simple overlaying patterns makes not a minimal structure. reversed grammatical construction intended here. It might be better described by a coinage like minimo-complexity.

[dave_manley]

In the score what does 'a.v.s' indicate? It is where the phase advances by increasing the tempo, correct? Did Reich ever change the phase by slowing the tempo?

[teodelfuego]

I wonder if this inspired Pete Townsend?

[미미쇼]

한수중 음악 수행평가 이제 다 외웠다 라고 생각한 호구 없지? 0:49