Search - Steve Reich, Grant Gershon, Los Angeles Master Chorale :: Steve Reich: You Are (Variations)

Sublimely beautiful, joyful, challenging stuff

D. Robert Bundy | Phoenix, AZ USA | 02/03/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I normally don't submit reviews in this forum, and I generally think that chatter among critics is beside the point, and of little use to anyone looking to reader comments for insights into the relative merits of a piece of music. What is that great quote from Elvis Costello? "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture." BUT...



I've listened to this recording several times, and I am so grateful for this music. I've been following Reich for a couple of decades now, and like anyone, I have my favorites, but it is sometimes frustrating to read people sniffing at a new work by deciding that it is not the percieved equal of some earlier work by that composer. I guess because I think of a great composer's latest work as a chapter in a book, and it makes little sense to me to stop the conversation between composer and listener in order to pit one chapter against another. Some of these posted criticisms have been thoughtful and heartfelt, but I would want them to consider that the listener changes over time as well, and sometimes listener and composer evolve and grow in different directions, and it is not necessarily the composer's "fault" if their aesthetics diverge down the line.



I love this record. I think Reich is distilling some of what has made him so interesting to me over the years. There are only a handful of modern composers that create music that is both lovely AND challenging, and none has perfected this balance better than Reich. Others may differ, but for me, the conversation is just getting more interesting as the years go by.



Robert Bundy"

And the Works Just Get Better and Better

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 10/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Steve Reich is a consistent contemporary composer. He has been artist in residence with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for years now and his forays into instrumental works, chamber works, and works for the human voice. He has that uncanny ability to treat every participant in lifting his score of the page as equals, whether that participant be a percussionist, and instrumentalist, a soloist, or the human voice. His gift is one of sonics and pulsating rhythmic patterns that, while many may classify as minimalist, unfold like the colored stone patterns in a revolving kaleidoscope.



Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale appear to be perfectly wedded to Reich's gifts. The 'You Are (Variations)' are four movements in alternating English and Hebrew and call more for an 'instrumental' approach to the voice than for the usual opulent choral beauty that is the hallmark of this fine ensemble. And it works! 'You are wherever your thoughts are' opens the work in English followed by 'Shiviti hashem l'negdi (I place the eternal before)', 'Explanations come to an end somewhere', and the final 'Ehmor m'aht, v'ahsay harbay (Say little and do much)'. In these comprehensibly sung texts is great beauty of invention and sound, a perfect melding of the human voice as a musical instrument with just the added edge of being able to utter words that magnify the mood.



Equally as beautiful is 'Cello Counterpoint' (as performed by Maya Beiser and prerecorded eight other celli), a lyrical with a fascinatingly dense rhythmic drive that is for this listener one of the most successive experimental works of his Counterpoint series.



While fellow minimalist composers (John Adams for one) are stretching beyond the purity of this movement, Steve Reich proves that there is much more to be said in this realm. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, October 05"

More great music from Steve Reich!

meteordude | Boulder, CO United States | 10/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well I am one of the minimalist nuts who runs to the store as soon as i hear about a new release by Steve Reich. He takes his time with new compositions, and luckily we are usually rewarded very generously by each of his efforts. The works on this album are no exception, and I would probably rank them near the top in terms of quality, originality and overall listenability.



These two pieces are somewhat more complex than many of his previous works. There is some similarity with the recent Triple Quartet, especially in Cello Counterpoint. The trademark Reich style is clearly there, but with an extra layer of rythmic and harmonic complexity. The end result (for me) is two outstanding pieces that have a freshness which I didn't expect. It is exciting to see that Steve's writing is continuing to evolve (and in a good way). more more more, please!!"