STEVE REICH Music for Pieces of Wood
A founder of minimalism, Steve Reich was achieving acclaim by the early 1970s for his explorations of rhythm using percussion, melody instruments, and even clapping, sometimes in combination with electronic media. Music for Pieces of Wood, from 1973,represents a progression away from the “phase shifting” of these earlier works.
MEREDITH MONK Realm Variations
In her widely acclaimed music-theater pieces, Meredith Monk explores the possibilities of the human voice, melding ensembles in wordless choruses that evoke almost trance-like effects. Realm Variations is an example of Monk’s focus in recent years on creating compositions in which “voices are like instruments and instruments are like voices.” The title reflects the composer’s engagement with the idea of musical“realms,” which in this case refers to the distinct pitch regions over which the performing forces are deployed.
LUKAS FOSS Echoi
Lukas Foss composed in virtually all styles, from Romantic to neoclassical to avant-garde. In the mid-1950s, he began experimenting with graphic notation,indeterminacy, and compositions that gave performers more or less control over a piece. In later works, he sampled the possibilities of electronic music,minimalism, and cross-fertilization between the Classical tradition and other musical styles. The four movements of Echoi,from 1963, reveal Foss’s interest in improvisation.
MORTON SUBOTNICK Jacob’s Room: Monodrama
Morton Subotnick was a pioneer of electronic music and one of its most important composers. A concert version of Jacob’s Room was introduced in San Francisco in 1985 by Subotnick’s wife, Joan La Barbara,and the Kronos Quartet; Subotnick eventually developed this work into a chamber opera that was first presented in 2010. In the new version of the work heard at tonight’s performance, music distributed among various characters in the opera is concentrated into a single voice—that of La Barbara, who “throws” her voice around the auditorium by way of the digital possibilities accessed through microphones.