Tehillim (1981)

A four-movement work to Biblical texts (the Hebrew title means simply ‘Psalms’). The first work in which Reich decided to settle accounts with his Jewish cultural heritage. The scoring of the most frequently-performed chamber music version features four female voices, piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, two clarinets, six percussion instruments, two electric organs, two violins, viola, ’cello and double bass. The musical language is less radical than in Reich’s previous compositions and places emphasis on the rhetorical side of the work. All of the metrical patterns are strictly subordinated to the prosody of the Hebrew text. Despite this, the artist does not make any direct allusions to the Jewish musical tradition: its continuity is emphasized via the use of expanded melodies, imitative counterpoint and colorful orchestration – without, however, abandoning the characteristic pulse of the narrative, focused around a clearly-indicated tonal center.