Canon
Where to start with Reich
Essential works to know this composer by — spread across their styles-
ChamberDifferent Trains, for double string quartet and tape
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Orchestral3 Movements
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VocalMusic for 18 Musicians, for 4 female voices and 16 instruments
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Keyboard6 Pianos, for 6 pianos
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ChamberMusic for Pieces of Wood, for 5 pairs of tuned claves
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ChamberCity Life — For digital samplers, two pianos and chamber orchestra
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ChamberIt's Gonna Rain — For magnetic tape
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Orchestral3 Variations for Orchestra
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Chamber4 Organs, for 4 electric organs and maracas
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Chamber8 Lines, for chamber orchestra
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ChamberClapping Music, for 2 performers
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VocalDrumming, for 2 female voices, piccolo, 4 pairs of bongos, 3 marimbas and 3 glockenspiels
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ChamberElectric Counterpoint, for electric guitar, bass guitar, and tape
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VocalMusic for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ, for 3 female voices, 3 marimbas, 3 glockenspiels, vibes and organ
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ChamberNagoya Marimbas, for 2 marimbas
Listening guide
Hand-curated paths into Reich's catalogueMost Popular
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Music for 18 Musicians
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Electric Counterpoint (guitar)
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Clapping Music
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Different Trains (string quartet + tape)
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Violin Phase
Most Acclaimed
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Drumming (complete)percussion only — 70-90 minutes
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Different Trains
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Music for 18 Musicians
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The Cave (video opera)
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Daniel Variations
Most Weird
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It\’s Gonna Rain (1965)tape loops of a Pentecostal preacher: ”it\’s gonna rain” until the phrase completely dissolves into rhythm and noise — his first tape piece
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Come Out (1966)tape loop of a Harlem youth: ”come out to show them” — loops until the words lose meaning; was made to support the Harlem Six trial
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The Cavevideo opera — DNA testing of who lived in the Cave of Machpelah; Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans answer ”who is Abraham for you?”
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City Lifesampled city sounds become musical instruments — car brakes, boat horns, heartbeats
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WTC 9/11string quartet + voices + recordings — 9/11 material; compressed and intense
Similar composers
Same era, overlapping styles — by genre & period affinityIn your library
Works 26
- Chamber
- ● Different Trains, for double string quartet and tape
- ● Music for Pieces of Wood, for 5 pairs of tuned claves
- City Life — For digital samplers, two pianos and chamber orchestra
- It's Gonna Rain — For magnetic tape
- 4 Organs, for 4 electric organs and maracas
- 8 Lines, for chamber orchestra
- Clapping Music, for 2 performers
- Electric Counterpoint, for electric guitar, bass guitar, and tape
- Nagoya Marimbas, for 2 marimbas
- New York Counterpoint, for clarinet, bass clarinet, and tape
- Pendulum Music, for 3 or more microphones, amps and loudspeakers
- Sextet, for percussion, piano and synthesizers
- Triple Quartet, for 3 string quartets
- Variations for Winds, Strings, and Keyboards
- Vermont Counterpoint, for piccolo, flutes, and tape
- Violin Phase, for violin and tape
- Orchestral
- 3 Movements
- 3 Variations for Orchestra
- The 4 Sections
- Vocal
- Music for 18 Musicians, for 4 female voices and 16 instruments
- Drumming, for 2 female voices, piccolo, 4 pairs of bongos, 3 marimbas and 3 glockenspiels
- Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ, for 3 female voices, 3 marimbas, 3 glockenspiels, vibes and organ
- Proverb, for 3 sopranos, 2 tenors, vibraphone, and sythesizer
- Tehillim, for 3 sopranos, alto, winds, strings, percussion and keyboards
- Keyboard
- 6 Pianos, for 6 pianos
- Piano Phase, for 2 pianos