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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Steve Reich's Tehillim: A Brief Discussion; Graduate Paper by Payman Akhlaghi, 2000, UCLA

Steve Reich (b. 1936)
American Minimalist Composer of
"Tehillim" (1981)
A Brief Discussion of Steve Reich's Tehillim (2000)
Author: Payman Akhlaghi

Graduate Paper Toward Degrees of MA & PhD in Composition (English, 18 pages)
Guidance: Prof. David S. Lefkowitz
Winter 2000, UCLA
Free to Read on Scribd
Shortened Link:
http://bit.ly/PA_Reich_Tehillim_2000

Excerpt 1:

"Introduction
Tehillim (1981) is an intriguing piece amongst Steve Reich’s entire oeuvre. While ‎its origins might be traced back to Reich’s earlier compositions, which had primarily ‎employed the so- called “phasing” technique as their main structural device, Tehillim ‎manifests more a departure from, than a continuation of, the phase period. Besides, ‎Tehillim seems as important within the general context of the post-modern minimalist ‎trends of the 80’s and beyond. Yet, because of its multifaceted musical conception, it ‎does not lend itself easily to a dichotomic stylistic categorization, i.e. it’s hard to place ‎Tehillim with much exactitude within either Reich’s own brand of modernist-minimalism ‎‎(or minimalist-modernism), or the post-modern musical world of the time. With Tehillim, ‎Reich clearly leaves behind the primacy of process and the supremacy of rhythm alone, ‎two of the conspicuous features of his earlier music, and instead, he embraces a more ‎comprehensive view of the composition’s sound-world, by devising longer melodic lines ‎and rhythmic patterns (as opposed to the previously short fragments), timbral diversity..."

Monday, September 17, 2012

"Someday Your Bud" by Payman Akhlaghi, Love Poem in English and Persian (August 2012)

Someday Your Bud
A Poem by Payman Akhlaghi
روزی جوانۀ تو
شعری از پیمان اخلاقی
© 2012, Payman Akhlaghi. Text and Photo.
All rights reserved.
(Click on the Image to Enlarge.)
First published on August 24, 2012 on
The Author's Facebook Wall

(*) NB: This is an original post. The entire content of this post is by default copyrighted and belongs to Payman Akhlaghi, including all text and photos. It's the author's sincere hope that you'll enjoy reading the poem. However, you may not profit from any sales of the work, or quote from it without citing the author. Also note that the author is a composer himself, and as such, he strictly forbids anyone else to set his poetry, either in English or Persian, to music. Thank you.

Someday Your Bud
A Poem by Payman Akhlaghi
First published on August 24, 2012 on
The Author's Facebook Wall
She will happen to you.

Some day,
She'll emerge,
In a rising desire,
Inside a dormant dream,
Beyond the midnight fog,
Before the table.
Across the room.

Click on Read More for the Full English and Persian Text
ادامۀ متن  انگلیسی و فارسی در زیر