Daniel Variations.Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was taken hostage, then murdered most cruelly by Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan in 2002. His final words, as recorded in the video made by his captors, were 'I am Jewish'. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pearl's killing has already inspired many responses: the film, A Mighty Heart, is probably the best known. Steve Reich, on the other hand, picks up on another motif as a way of paying tribute: Pearl was an amateur violinist, and it's this detail that fuels the composer's homage. The commissioning of Reich for this work is an obvious one: since 1989's Different Trains, much of the American's work has been a deep interrogation interrogation In criminal law, process of formally and systematically questioning a suspect in order to elicit incriminating responses. The process is largely outside the governance of law, though in the U.S. of his own Jewish faith and tradition. And even before, Reich's precise and innovative music has never been divorced from politics: 1965's It's Gonna Rain "It's Gonna Rain" is a musical composition written by Steve Reich in 1965; the work is approximately 17 minutes and 50 seconds in length. It was Reich's first major work and a landmark in musical minimalism and process music. , for example, used a tape loop from one black victim of police brutality. This is an album of two pieces: the chiming pianos and jazzy jazz·y adj. jazz·i·er, jazz·i·est 1. Resembling jazz in form or nature; rhythmical. 2. Slang Showy; flashy: a jazzy car. cadences of the three-part 'Variations for Vibes, Piano and Strings' are vintage Reichian superstructures, but it is the four 'Daniel Variations' that are really memorable. Solo violin figures abound, almost dancing in the gaps between the texts--from the Book of Daniel Noun 1. Book of Daniel - an Old Testament book that tells of the apocalyptic visions and the experiences of Daniel in the court of Nebuchadnezzar Book of the Prophet Daniel, Daniel and Pearl himself--sung by the Los Angeles Master Chorale The Los Angeles Master Chorale is a famous professional chorus in Los Angeles, California. Grant Gershon has been its music director since 2001, succeeding Paul Salamunovich. . In this way, Reich manages his sounds--small and intimate, large and memorializing--in a masterly way. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GOOD LG www.stevereich.com by Steve Reich (Nonesuch none·such also non·such n. 1. A person or thing without equal. 2. See black medic. none 7559 799 494 CD) |
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