Terry Riley

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 19 Sep 2000 7:30 am

In the Steve Reich topic, someone mentioned Terry Riley's "In C". It inevitably comes up when conversations about minimalist music. It's the most often played minimalist composition in the world.

My favorite recording of "In C" is by the Shanghai Film Orchestra (Celestial Harmonies 13026-2). It's played here on tradition Chinese instruments, which are a real joy to hear if you like noise.

"In C" varies in length according to the whims of the performers. I get the impression that these Chinese are an impatient group - they hang on to each of the 53 phrases just long enough to make an interesting sonic image, and then move on. As a result, this recording is less than 30 minutes long - the shortest rendition I've encountered. (Two works by David Mingyue Liang round out the CD.)

Riley is an interesting cat. I have a lot of music by him. Some of it is really boring, and some of it is just awesome. I don't think that "In C" is his best work, or even a good representation of his work, but its influence on modern music cannot be denied.

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<small><img align=right src="http://b0b.com/Averybob.gif" width=64 height=81>Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs
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Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 22 Sep 2000 12:09 pm

What is Riley's best work, you might ask? (You didn't, but I didn't want to see this topic die.) "Chanting the Light of Foresight" is one of the most astonishing pieces of music I've ever heard. It's a saxophone quartet.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 22 Sep 2000 1:11 pm

b0b, I'm trying to like this stuff, but I don't get it.

Here's where I listened to some of "Chanting The Light Of Foreskin" or whatever it's called:
http://www.newalbion.com/NA064/full.html

I must be too much a Eurocentric bigot to enjoy "Music For 18 Musicians" of which I heard 14 1-minute pieces at the other end of your link.

ebb · Post by **ebb** » 22 Sep 2000 3:17 pm

I agree that Lamont Young and Terry Riley have it. They did very effective things with just intonation. I'm with Bovine on Reich.

Susan Alcorn (deceased) · Post by **Susan Alcorn (deceased)** » 22 Sep 2000 8:19 pm

I love Terry Riley -- beautiful. In fact at one time I considered recording an (adapted) transcription of "The Wheel" or "Mythic Birds Waltz". I still use parts of it as a warm-up

Susan

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 23 Sep 2000 1:23 am

Earnest,
Reich's music is pretty darn Eurocentric so that couldn't be the problem

One of the main things about this sort of music is how it takes place over time. There is no way to even hear it in small samples. It would be like trying out choclate cake by tasting a little flour,milk, baking soda and an egg.

Bob