Dienstag, 29. Apr 2008, 14:04

Mon 28 Apr – Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
18 Musicians is my favourite piece of music, my number 1 desert island disk. I’ve never seen it performed live before so I was fascinated by the process and captivated as always by the music. I imagine the piece is a bit like a martial art to play, you have to be very disciplined and not take your eye off the ball or else it will all fall apart. I was close to the stage and watched all the players in The London Sinfonietta some of which seemed to be enjoying themselves most of the time when they weren’t counting or concentrating hard. It’s such good music, really simple yet complex also in a way. The only bit that didn’t quite seem right was the piano section (start of side 2 from the original vinyl edition), maybe I’m too used to the balance from the original recording which picks out the differences a bit more.

The first half was taken up with Thomas Adès 'In Seven Days'. I loved the music but wasn’t a great fan of the massive visual projections, impressive though they were. But then I don’t like Reich’s video/music collaborations much either. I guess I’m just a traditional conservative old fart!