Reich - Four Organs

Reich – Four Organs – 2.5/5 Stars

Steve Reich is one my all time favorite composers. However this piece didn’t exactly do it for me. Reich has always had a fascination with music repeating and changing over time—whether it be some type of increased augmentation, diminution, or evolving offset, one can frequently expect insane amounts of repetition in his works.

18 Musicians is by far the greatest and most successful example of repetitious music organically evolving over time. Four Organs, much to my displeasure, had a few flaws stacked against it:
1) That obnoxious shaker that runs unchanging through the entire piece. It truly goes to the top of “Annoying Usage of Percussion” list, right next to the cowbell in Don’t Fear the Reaper.

2) Four organs playing loudly for 16 minutes could draw a confession out of innocent man.

3) The evolution of sound didn’t change enough and the overall cells were a bit boring. The overall texture shift was nice, and by the end the piece had smoothly transformed. However, both the original cell and the final product weren’t all that aural pleasing.

The biggest redeeming feature offered by this piece is taking a little fun from the experience of listening to the slow shifts, as if watching the tide come in—each wave comes an inch closer. If you’re really interested in hearing a piece like this, I highly recommend 18 Musicians over this piece.