Incoming classical music.

Steve Reich is one of those composers in the minimalist category, whose music may seem repetitive and simply made as a novelty. Pieces like "Piano Phase," "Pendulum Music," or "Four Organs" can get stale for an untrained ear. However, his evolution from this phase (no pun intended) in his career, he began to write works that were more fleshed out and had a lot more depth, like "Eight Lines," "Six Pianos," and what could be considered his best work, "Music for 18 Musicians."

What we have here is an hour long piece with some extremely odd instrumentation. It requires multiple marimbas and xylophones, two clarinets, four female voices, various auxiliary instruments, and nine piano players. The piece is also based around an eleven-chord cycle, each chord being given their own section of the piece; this cycle is book-ended by two sections of "Pulses."

This is where things get complicated to talk about, because these sections are so similar to each other, and yet they're also so incredibly unique. Just about the entire piece is built around sixteenth notes of varying lengths (mostly short) that provide a chordal background for a few sparse melodies that introduce themselves once in a while. As boring as that sounds, it's actually very engaging, as many of the pulses fade in and out, giving the piece some interesting dynamic qualities.

Some of the sounds featured here have some very contrasting timbres; the bass clarinet's very sharp and keen tone together with these wordless and round female vocals, for example, or the marimbas together with the pianos. Reich was very careful in the instruments he chose and how many of each there would be. There's an astounding number of marimbas and pianos on stage, but they're all necessary to bringing out the harmonies and melodies found in every section.

It's not quite enough to talk about what's contained in "Music for 18 Musicians;" it's much more interesting to discuss the emotions it brings out of the listener. For me, it's a sense of dreariness and majesty. When done right, this piece sounds alive and bigger than anything one can possibly imagine. It's flowing, it's monolithic, and it's one of the few pieces in instrumental music history that says so much by saying nothing at all. When I hear this, I get lost in it. I shut my eyes and let Reich's magnum opus take me wherever it may.

10/10

My personal favorite performance of this piece: