Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76)

A work scored for ’cello, violin, two clarinets, four pianos, three marimbas and four female voices. The author permits, even recommends performance by a larger number of musicians – the number 18 in the title refers to the composition of the ensemble Steve Reich & Musicians, which took part in the work’s première on 24 April 1976 at Town Hall in New York. A performance with the smallest possible ensemble requires some of the musicians to execute two or even three parts at once. The composition is exceptionally rich in terms of harmony – it relies on a cycle of 11 sonorities, around which the individual elements of the narrative are focused. This is Reich’s first attempt to take on a larger ensemble, apply augmentation technique and creatively utilize the properties of psychoacoustic music. One of the essential elements of the structure is the breath, included in the voice and clarinet parts in order to bring out the composition‘s internal pulse.