Reich: New York Counterpoint Counterpoint
Steve Reich
D.O.B: 3rd October 1936 (Age:76) Growing up his time was split between his mum in New York and his dad in California.
2007: Polar Music Prize (with Sonny Rollings) 2009: Pulitzer Prize for Music (for Double Sextet ) 2011: Honorary doctorate from the New England Conservatory of Music
" our greatest living composer" (The New York Times) Pioneering composer of Minimal Music
His innovative styles included using tape loops and simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts
“...the most original musical thinker of our time” (The NewYorker)
Studies Whilst Growing up Reich took Piano lessons and began to study music at the age of 14 In 1957 Reich graduated Cornell University with Honours in Philosophy
In 1973 and 1974 he studied Gamelan Music at the American Society for Eastern Arts in Seattle
Studied composition with Hall Overton for 2 years
1970: drumming at the Institute for African Studies at the University of Ghana in Accra.
From 1958 to 1961 he studied at the Juilliard School of Music
Received Masters in Music from Mills College California in 1963
From 1976 to 1977 he studied the traditional forms of cantillation (chanting) of the Hebrew scriptures in New York and Jerusalem.
New York Counterpoint: 1985 Commissioned by The Fromm Music Foundation for clarinettist Richard Stolzman
Between 1965 and 2009 Reich composed over 40 works : Film and programme music Continuation of the ideas Music for Orchestra found in Vermont Music for the Stage counterpoint (1982) Vocal works Works for percussion Works for solo instruments (With tape)
•
•
•
•
•
•
New York Counterpoint is an example of minimalism in three movements: fast, slow, fast, played one after the other without pause.
‘New York’ refers to the hectic city life reflected in the movement and ‘Counterpoint’ refers to the repetitive free canons formed by the staggered entries of the parts
Minimalism Originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School.
Features: Contrapuntal texture Non-functional, slow moving harmony Phasing Little variety of instrumentation Gradual changes in texture and dynamics Use of canonic imitation Diatonic harmony Use of ostinati Repetitions of melodic, rhythmic and harmonic patterns
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Context New York Counterpoint is an example of post – modernist minimalism and is part of a series of three Counterpoint pieces: the first, titled Vermont Counterpoint (1982), was written for flute and tape, and the third, Electric Counterpoint (1988), was written for guitar and tape.
Purpose Commissioned by The Fromm Music Foundation for clarinettist Richard Stolzman.
Use of pre-recorded tape meant only one instrumentalist was needed
The tape is typical of Reich’s work
Instrumentation New York Counterpoint was composed for a pre recorded tape of 10 clarinets and 1 live clarinet. Every note is written in the key of B major but heard as A major since the clarinets sound a tone lower than written.
Form and Structure
Typical of Reich’s work and of minimalism
Doesn't fit any notions of form
Reich structures his music through the careful control of texture: Could be considered ternary form with the B section defined by the presence of the pulsing 4-part chords
Typical of minimalism
Section A: bars 1-24 Section B: bars 25-66 Section A: bars 67-72
Rhythm and Metre The metre of the piece is ¾ which does not change in this movement.
Phasing & Canonic Imitation Section B: pulsing semi quavers in the last 4 clarinets
Polyrhythmic
Syncopation
Harmony and Tonality The movement is entirely diatonic however the lack of progression towards the tonic means that the harmony is non-functional.
The key signature of 5 sharps combined with a keynote of E puts this piece in the Lydian Mode, transposed down a semitone
Harmonic language is mainly triadic
The melodic ostinati are centred on alterations of chords IV and V, but their canonic entries cause the chords to overlap and change at different times in different parts: this can sometimes give a feel of dissonance.
Melody
This is the Ostinato we hear in bars 1 and 2 played by clarinet 7: it is repeated and adapted throughout the piece
Typical of minimalism Canonic imitation and phasing. (Changes the sound but not the music)
Additive process of gradually completing the melody by replacing rest with notes
Subtractive process of replacing some notes of the melody with rests
The melodic material is triadic and based on the chords E and F# major. It is also limited to a range of one octave
Texture Parts constantly work in pairs: either playing the same or imitating each other
Highly contrapuntal texture
From bar 25 until its part ends in bar 66 the live clarinet plays a freer, more improvisatory part that does not form part of the scheme of paired imitation
In bar 27 cls. 7 and 8 and the two bass clarinets (9 and 10) start a pulsing chord underneath the imitative texture. There are six examples of this in the piece
In bars 13-24 there is a 6-part texture, with 3 imitative pairs
Bars 27-32
Bars 33-8
Bars 39-46
Bars 47-52
Bars 53-58
Bars 59-65
C#11 (= C#, D#, B, F#)
E aug11 (= E, G#, D#, A#)
G#11 (= G#, A#, F#, C#)
C#11
E aug11
G#11
