Steve Reich – Pulse / Quartet

Beethoven and Broadway, spiritual contemplation and urban jazz: the associations that came to mind to the first critics of the compositions Pulse and Quartet by Steve Reich were so diverse that one would hardly expect from minimal music. But Steve Reich, with his branched sound structures, repeatedly awakens new musical landscapes, new areas of expressivity.

Now the world premiere of the two works is being released in interpretations of the world's best avant-garde ensembles specialising in Reich: the International Contemporary Ensemble and the Colin Currie Group. The compositions are artistically related: In 2013, Reich, as a pioneer of minimalism one of the most important contemporary composers, tried out the sound connection of two pianos and two vibraphones for the first time with Quartet, which seem to follow the tones of the black and white keys like shadows and open up new dimensions to the idea of ​​the classic quartet. The composer, who referred to the piece as “one of my most complex works”, created new harmonious spaces here that had never been heard before.