Reich: Piano Phase

“These performances have the composer's approval (he says they 'pulse with life' and praises the LSRE's 'superb feel').” BBC Music Magazine, April 2008 ****

“Time was when Steve Reich's music was the exclusive domain of his own ensemble: then he was signed to Boosey & Hawkes and his scores were eagerly picked up by a second generation of interpreters. The result has done nothing but good for Reich's music as 'outsider' groups inevitably bring fresh nuance to works designed for a specific pool of musicians. The London Steve Reich Ensemble – who trade under the great man's name with his blessing – was formed by students from the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 and they quickly demonstrate that Reich's sleeve-note claim that 'these performances pulse with life' is more than puffery. Eight Lines – a 1983 rewrite of the Octet – is less sour than the Reich Ensemble's own recording, and sits comfortably in a conversational slipstream that is highly rewarding. Piano Phase is monumental and steely, again a point of departure from the original.
But most intriguing is the Sextet from 1984, a work that has been unfairly neglected on disc since Reich's recording. Scored for a trademark ensemble of keyboards and mallet percussion, Reich focuses on how he might make the ensemble sound more instrument-heavy than it actually is. Curvaceous bowed vibraphone strokes are a beautiful counterpoint to the inherently brittle ensemble attack and are judiciously highlighted.
The cleanness of the recording certainly helps: low-register piano figurations have a throbbing clarity that creates telling perspective against the rest of the ensemble.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

"This is an excellent recording and I highly recommend it" BBC Music Magazine (Benchmark recording of Piano Phase)

“Every hip British string quartet seemingly gravitates towards Steve Reich's Different Trains as a means to keep them on track. It’s a powerful work with a simple message - as Reich was travelling between his divorced parents in 1940s America his fellow Jews in central Europe were making train journeys altogether more sinister. The Duke Quartet, much to their credit, have remade the three pre-recorded string quartet tracks and their version is full-bodied and faithful to Reich's intentions.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“Although the booklet-notes claim that Glass's music has 'long resisted interpretation', that is exactly what Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa do, offering a breadth of tempo, dynamic and emotional contrasts that belie the composer's reputation as a mere dispenser of arpeggios. Reich's Piano Phrase (1967), however, requires another approach. Unfolding as a progressive phase shift where repeating unison lines gradually break apart, the music's only room for personal input is the starting tempo. The same qualities of rhythmic assuredness and textural clarity that Davies brings to the conductor's podium are consistently present here.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2006

“Superbly performed and very well engineered, these are recordings which can stand alongside any in similar repertoire. As an introduction and deepening of one’s experiences with the world of ‘repetitive’ music this is likely to be an eye or ear-opener for many, including die-hard fans like myself...If your experiences of minimalism until now have been negative, this is a perfect place to commence rehabilitation.” MusicWeb International, January 2011