Reverberations - the influence of Steve Reich

The extraordinary musical influence of Steve Reich and his compositions are the focus of a marathon weekend at the Barbican on 7 and 8 May 2011. Following the first announcement of the Reverberations weekend, further details of the programme have been confirmed. Listings can be found at the bottom of the release.

The weekend celebrates the great pioneer of musical minimalism as a special guest during a packed weekend that explores his influence on generations of musicians as well as his own work. Steve Reich is joined by some of today’s most visionary artists such as Bryce Dessner (guitarist of the indie-rock group The National) and his band Clogs, the Kronos Quartet, former Battles member Tyondai Braxton, Grammy winning ensemble eighth blackbird, who make their London debut, Brooklyn based percussion quartet So Percussion, Bang on a Can, post-minimalist pianist Max Richter, Hungarian percussion group Amadinda Quartet, conductor André de Ridder, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, electronica maverick Dan Deacon, Canadian artist Owen Pallett and Icelandic musician, composer and producer Jóhann Jóhannsson.

During the weekend, the Barbican/Guildhall School Creative Learning Division presents a number of events for students and young people centred around Reverberations. Bang on a Can, So Percussion and Kronos Quartet will lead rehearsals and master classes with Guildhall School musicians and Steve Reich will attend rehearsals for a new piece created by young people from Junior Guildhall, Creative Learning ensembles and Centre for Young Musicians. Performances take place on the Barbican FreeStage during both afternoons, leading up to the Barbican Hall sessions.

Saturday, 7 May
First session, LSO St Luke’s: the session celebrates Steve Reich’s transatlantic influence. Bang on a Can perform Lukas Ligeti’s Glamour Girl , Louis Andriessen’s Life and Steve Martland’s Horses of Instruction, which gets its title from a line in William Blake’s poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and was commissioned by the ensemble in 1994. These works are combined with Steve Reich’s classics Music For Pieces Of Wood (performed by So Percussion) and his Sextet for four percussionists, who play marimbas, vibraphones, bass drums, crotales, sticks and tam-tam, and two keyboardists (performed by Amadinda Quartet and So Percussion). So Percussion also perform extracts from their Imaginary City, a sonic meditation on urban soundscapes.

Second session, LSO St Luke’s: Kronos Quartet give the world premiere of Bryce Dessner’s string quartet Tenebre, the UK premiere of Clouded Yellow by Michael Gordon, and also a performance of Scott Johnson’s It Raged from How it happens, based on the sampled voice of I.F. Stone, an American journalist. So Percussion perform David Lang’s The So-Called Laws of Nature. The session ends with an instrumental performance by Dessner’s band Clogs, known for their compositions and improvisations that use sounds and textures from all across the musical spectrum.

Third session, Barbican Hall: Kronos Quartet give the European premiere of Steve Reich’s most recent composition WTC 9/11, the UK premieres of Bryce Dessner’s Aheym and of Ov Horachamim (traditional, arranged by Judith Berkson and Jacob Garchik) and a performance of Viderunt Omnes by Perotin, arranged by Kronos Quartet. The concert also includes the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by André de Ridder performing Anna Clyne’s Rewind, Steve Reich’s first orchestral work Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards, the UK premiere of Michael Gordon’s Rewriting Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Tyondai Braxton’s Central Market (performed together with the composer). American electronic musician Dan Deacon and So Percussion perform their collaborative work Ghostbuster Cook: The Origin of the Riddler for percussion instruments and electronics, and Bang on a Can and Lee Ranaldo present their live collaboration How Deep Are Rivers. Members of Bang on a Can also perform Steve Reich’s 2x5, written for two rock quintets.

Sunday, 8 May
Fourth session, LSO St Luke’s: Paul Hillier’s vocal group Theatre of Voices perform the London premiere of David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize winning Little Match Girl Passion (together with the Amadinda Quartet), Steve Reich’s Proverb and Roger Marsh's Not a Soul but Ourselves, which utilizes texts from the “Anna Livia Plurabelle” chapter of Finnegan’s Wake and is scored for two female and two male voices with independent amplification. The session closes with Jóhann Jóhannsson performing new work with his own ensemble.

Fifth session, LSO St Luke’s: the theme of the session is Percussion. It includes the UK premiere of Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet, written for the Amadinda Quartet and his Music for Pieces of Wood Variations played by David Cossin and Ian Ding. Hauschka performs new work with his trio, and eighth blackbird play music by some of the most exciting composers of our time: the European premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Still Life with Avalanche, Thomas Adès’ Catch, the UK premiere of Philippe Hurel’s … à mesure and David Lang’s These Broken Wings Part 3.

Sixth session, Barbican Hall: The session opens with Clapping Music, a piece of music that needs “no instruments beyond the human body”, performed by Steve Reich and So Percussion. Canadian artist Owen Pallett performs orchestral arrangements of his album Heartland in its entirety for the first time – a collection of songs around a young, ultra-violent farmer named Lewis, set in an imaginary landscape. Pallett performs the songs with Britten Sinfonia who also play Julia Wolfe’s Cruel Sister (conducted by André de Ridder) and Steve Reich’s You Are Variations (together with Synergy Vocals, conducted by Clark Rundell). The final session also includes a set from Max Richter and his ensemble and a set by Clogs before closing with Steve Reich’s Pulitzer Prize winning Double Sextet (performed by eighth blackbird and Bang on a Can).