Steve Reich is a big influence for me and for many of my true musical heroes. I here traces of his music in countless works from Egberto Gismonti over Eberhard Weber and Pat Metheny to Techno pioneers like Jeff Mills. I once heard or read a theory that Reich's music is one of the most democratic ones because while being performed on record or on stage the listener can obviously follow all the creative ideas of the composition, the layers, the phase invertions, polyrhythmic aspects, tonal "morphings" and so on; but still all his music is so much more than just the sum of its parts. His music gets me in an extremely exciting mood, it makes me feel awake, clever, peaceful. Somehow it is the opposite of a trance eventhough many people think "minimal" is exactly about this. Reich's clear language and unique skills seem to transport his awareness and sonic vision straight into my ears. Another great thing for me when listening to his music is that you can really feel the orchestra working and sweating like crazy. It is a very energetic experience. I love the piece "Music For 18 Instruments" which has been recorded many times. My quest for becoming a musically creative person always finds nutrition out of this one. The colours are magic due to a great blending of instruments and dynamics. There are almost synthetic effects created by classical percussion, mallets, woodwinds and strings. The neverending thematic evolution of those tiny motifs throughout the whole piece leave me breathless. I love when one idea flows out of the other and the momentarily sounding idea comes out of the last one - only to introduce the next one (I think Bach's imitational approach is the climax in music history). This kind of good music that I like reflects the spirit of entity, like the cellular structure of organisms and the overall architecture of our entire universe. There is a not so common piece by Steve Reich that I need to recommend highly. "Variations For Winds, Strings And Keyboards". That's a blast!!!
 
J.S. BACH
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