Electric Counterpoints

August 23, 2013 8:09 PM

Johnny Greenwood (guitar) (2013), Mark Stewart (guitar), Los Angeles Electric 8 (guitars, third movement), Neo_Impressioniste (recorders)

Dancing about architecture: Ivan Hewett on the third movement, GCSE Bitesize on Minimalism and Electric Counterpoint, How I recorded Electric Counterpoint

posted by Going To Maine (8 comments total)

very cool.
posted by sweetkid at 8:18 PM on August 23, 2013

This is fantastic. My CD (which also featured Reich's "Different Trains" piece for the Kronos Quartet) disappeared ten years ago and I forgot how much I love this piece. And these versions (especially the recorders!) are really great.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:22 PM on August 23, 2013

The recorder one was a surprise. There are some other variants out there, but none really stood out to me except for that one.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:24 PM on August 23, 2013

Agreed, the recorder piece is a revelation. Thanks so much for sharing.
posted by jng at 9:12 PM on August 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

The recorder piece reminds me of the soundtrack for Forbidden Planet...
posted by jim in austin at 9:22 PM on August 23, 2013

This is a most excellent post.
posted by mintcake! at 2:13 PM on August 24, 2013

To suggest that Reich has anything to do with “normal” classical music will strike many people as hugely implausible.

I've been listening to him since "In C" and it still strikes me as hugely implausible.

I like to recreate Reich by putting a long gouge in a crappy CD until it sticks when I play it.

An alternative method is to play any note into a delay with the feedback set so high that the sound never decays.
posted by Twang at 5:06 PM on August 24, 2013

I've been listening to him since "In C" and it still strikes me as hugely implausible.

Let's at least be fair with our criticisms. "In C", while also great, is by Terry Riley.
posted by Going To Maine at 5:51 PM on August 24, 2013 [1 favorite]