Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Works by Reich which use pre-recorded sounds and speech samples
- 'It's Gonna Rain' (1965)
- Opens with the
story of Noah
- 2 identical tapes loops of
black preacher intoning
'it's gonna rain' on 2
different tape recorders
- Beginning in unison 2
simultaneous tracks
shift out of sync (phase
shifting)
- Subdivided into 4 then 8
parts that phase against
each other
- Produce a variety of resulting
harmonic, melodic and
polyrhythmic combinations
- 'Come Out' (1966)
- Uses spoken speech
from voice of a
Harlem boy
- "Come out to show
them" re-recorded
on two channels
- Phase shifting effect
created as they slip out
of sync
- Gradually the gap widens
to become a reverberation
and then almost a canon
- 2 voices split into 4,
looped continuously,
then 8, until actual
words are unintelligible
- Only rhythmic and tonal
patterns of spoken words
are left
- 'Electric Counterpoint' (1987)
- Comissioned for
jazz guitarist Pal
Metheny
- Metheny recorded all guitar
tracks under Reich's supervision
to create a stereo backing track
- Metheny would then perform a
live part to create an ensemble
performance with himself
- Written for 12 guitars
and 2 bass guitars
- Tonal ambiguity caused by
frequent key shifts between E
minor and C minor
- Features change of
metre between 3/2 and
12/8 but not in all parts
- Difficult to accomplish due to
need for precise timing
- 'Different Trains' (1988)
- 3 movements
- Live string
quartet
- Taped string
quartet
- Taped sampled speech
fragments
- Train sounds
- Described as politically motivated
‘documentary and musical reality’
- Based on child experiences
- Jewish children travelling
around Europe
- Himself as a child
travelling from New
York to LA
- Contains speech fragments
selected on the basis of their
natural rhythmic and melodic
phrasing
- Not metrically precise and
requires tempo adjustments
- His governess
- Three Holocaust
survivors
- A retired Pullman
porter
- Use of tape meant live
players had to keep with the
tempo of the recording
- Musical and verbal continuity
provided with unifying semiquaver
string motive
- 'The Cave' (1993)
- Multimedia opera in 3
acts
- Speech fragments
- Video
- Music
- Presents differing views of Muslims,
Jews and Christians as to their ‘claim’
on the Cave of the Patriarchs
- Melodic lines are first used in
conjunction with the speech that
gave rise to them and then used
independently
- Melodic lines and video
images developed by
fragmentation and
repetition
- 'City Life' (1995)
- Orchestral work
- Unpitched,
unamplified
percussion
- 2 flutes
- 2
oboes
- 2 clarinets
- 2 vibraphones
- 2 samplers
- 2 pianos
- String quartet
- Double bass
- Digital samples play
back sounds and
speech samples such
as car horns, car
alarms, air brakes,
pile drivers recorded
in New York City
- Last movement uses
extracts from field
communications from
the New York Fire
Department during
1993 World Trade
Centre bombing
- Reich integrates these
into the ensemble
- Include fragments of speech, some
of which have their 'speech melody'
performed by the other instruments
- Divided into 5
movements in
an arch-like
form (ABCBA)
- Each named after
a sample within it
- A: wind chorale
B: rhythmic
sampled sounds
C: speech driven
- Paired movements
share a chord cycle
- 'WTC' (2011)
- 3 movements with
no pause between
them
- 1. 9/11/01
- Uses speech samples
from New York Fire
Department and eye
witnesses
- 2. 2010
- Uses taped recollections
of the day recorded by
Reich
- 3. WTC
- Uses recordings of the
Jewish hymn of the dead