Steve Reich, a pioneer of musical minimalism who turned 90 on Oct. 3, was at Cornell University in the 1950s when he had a revelatory experience that would help shape his career.
“I was in a musical history course with Professor William Austin and he played Pérotin, a composer in the 12th century at Notre Dame in Paris, and I thought, ‘This is amazing!’” Reich recalls. “Pérotin’s music goes on for at least 15, 20 minutes each piece without changing key — there are different notes, but basically it’s harmonically static — and he was a huge influence in technical matters that I wanted to explore.”
Cal Performances celebrates Reich’s birthday and his influential musical path Saturday at University of California, Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall in “Steve Reich at 90: A Birthday Celebration.” The concert is performed by the amplified sextet “Bang on a Can All-Stars,” as well as “Ensemble Signal,” with founder Brad Lubman conducting. The two ensembles unite to perform three works: “Electric Counterpoint” (1987) featuring electric guitar soloist Taylor Levine with a pre-recorded guitar ensemble; the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Double Sextet” (2007); and the West Coast premiere of “In All Your Ways.”
Reich remembers the first time he heard Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” at the age of 14 as another pivotal moment for him.
“I was brought up in a middle-class family hearing classical music, Haydn and Wagner, and anything before or after that just didn’t exist,” he says. “So I realized that my real musical interests are before 1750 and after Debussy.”
Reich cites jazz greats John Coltrane and Miles Davis as among those who’ve influenced him. He also links a linear relationship to fellow minimalist composer and nonagenarian Terry Riley.
“Riley was influenced by La Monte Young, he influenced me, and I influenced Phil Glass,” Reich says.
In 1970, Reich says he studied African, Balinese and Indian music. He adds that these musical forms have something in common with the chronological through line he draws from Pérotin to Coltrane.
“All these influences were sharing this kind of idea that you don’t have to change harmony for a long time,” he says. “But if you’re going to not change harmony, then you better have rhythmic complexity and melodic invention to make up for the fact … And all these musics do exactly that.”
(Doug Mason via Bay City News)
The Cal Performances co-commissioned “In All Your Ways” for large ensemble highlights of religious texts, another subject of interest to Reich. He drew the title from the opening of Proverbs 3:6 and wove a four-note instrumental setting of the biblical passage throughout the piece. The work is part of a series he’s been creating that taps religious texts for their syllabic structure and meaning.
“I believe in God, I’m a religious Jew, and the text that has interested Western composers, mostly Christian, has been the various books of the Bible,” he says.
After Reich finished writing “In All Your Ways” and heard the work, he says he realized it needed what he called a “breather” to slow down the 15-minute piece for himself, the musicians and listeners. The note changes he then made to the work was an unusual step for him.
“Generally, the way I compose is I start at the beginning, go to the end and along the way I hate problems,” he says. “I had to perform surgery, to open up a space between the existing movements and put in slow movements, and I believe it was quite successful. I think it vastly improved the piece and was a very challenging and therefore invigorating compositional challenge to do.”
Reich says his journey as a composer hasn’t always been a smooth one, especially early in his career, but that it soon became an edifying, gratifying and rewarding pursuit.
“The opening years were very difficult with all kinds of odd jobs — Phil Glass and I had a moving company — and I’d say by 1972 I’m making a living being a composer,” he says. “Most people are into teaching at universities because they can’t make a living writing their music. The idea for me was learning; it’s not just the writing, it’s playing for other people, which is a wonderful thing to do.”
Cal Performances presents “Steve Reich at 90: A Birthday Celebration” 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Zellerbach Hall, near Bancroft Way and Dana Street on the University of California, Berkeley campus. Tickets are $60-$125 at 510-842-9988 or calperformances.org.