steve reich - biography


6. Judaism - Tehillim - Chamber & "Symphony" - The Desert Music

Always a spiritual man, Reich had abandoned his Jewish heritage for a time during his college years and slightly beyond, practicing yoga and other disciplines. In about 1974, Reich met Beryl Korot, a video artist who, like himself, was of Jewish heritage. She would become Reich's second wife (his first marriage, during his college years, ended in divorce), and together they would delve deeply into their shared spiritual background, journeying to Israel in n1977, studying Hebrew and other facets of the Jewish tradition. This spiritual rediscovery would have a profound effect on Reich, and its influence began to make itself known in his musical works.

Studying Jewish Biblical cantillation similarly to his exploration of African and Balinese rhythms, Reich produced Tehillim (1981), his first conventioanl vocal piece. A collection of psalms sung in Hebrew, Tehillim makes no attempt to duplicate the sounds of traditional cantillation; rather, Reich again chooses to apply his own musical theories to the traditional verbage of the psalms. The result is a perfect matching of words and music, strongly spiritual and completely musically satisfying at the same time.

After Tehillim, Reich's renewed interest in the combination of words and music resulted in The Desert Music (1984), a symphony (of sorts) with a chorus who sings the poetry of William Carlos Williams. The piece's somewhat symphonic nature (and the public's perception of Reich having adopted the symphony as a new form of expression) was dismissed by Reich as an experiment with a more traditional form, but in no way a symphony. As if to counter this perception, Reich chose to focus on small chamber pieces such as Sextet (1985), New York Counterpoint (1985) and Electric Counterpoint (1987) -- a piece composed for electric and bass guitar as performed by Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. Reich's next major work would see a return to taped music, recorded speech, and another Jewish theme.