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| Steve Reich (b. 1936) American Minimalist Composer of "Tehillim" (1981) |
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..."
