Steve Reich
Usually the American Pulitzer Award is connected with journalism and prose, but it is actually also awarded to music. This year the award went to Reich for Double Sextet, a commissioned work for the young ensemble eight blackbird. ”Our time’s greatest composer,” was the words of the New York Times about Steve Reich (b. 1936). His basis are structures, rhythms and harmonies from classical music, but he also uses elements from non-western music and jazz.
The composer was born and grew up in New York and California. After studies in philosophy at the Cornell University he went to study composition at the prestigious Julliard School of Music, and he finished with a Master’s Degree from Mills College in 1963. During the summer of 1970, Reich travelled on scholarship funds from Accra, the capital of Ghana, to study percussion. The piece Drumming (1970-71), which can be enjoyed at this year’s Ultima, was a result of this.
Reich is considered a pioneer in minimalism. In this line of composition, the rhythm is permanent, and variations on musil themes are repeated continuously, and developed slowly. Apart from Reich, the most prominent performers are La Monte Young, Philip Glass and Terry Riley.