Steve Reich: Double Sextet/2x5
Album Overview:
Release date: September 10, 2010
Label: Nonesuch Records, Inc.
Duration: 42:47
Performers: Eighth Blackbird
Double Sextet: I. Fast
Double Sextet: II. Slow
Double Sextet: III. Fast
2x5: I. Fast
2x5: II. Slow
2x5: III. Fast
Nonesuch released an album with two Steve Reich compositions—Double Sextet and 2x5—on September 14, 2010. Double Sextet—which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009—is performed by eighth blackbird, who commissioned the piece. "Beautifully poised throughout," says the BBC, "Double Sextet stands as arguably one of Reich’s finest works." The Philadelphia Inquirer places it "among the finest pieces of our time … more than earlier Reich, it tips from exaltation to menace on a dime.” Bang on a Can perform 2x5, which premiered last summer at a velodrome in Manchester, England. The work shared a double bill with German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk and was commissioned by MIF in association with Casa da Música (Porto).
Double Sextet comprises two identical sextets of flute, clarinet, vibraphone, piano, violin, and cello. Doubling the instrumentation was done so that, as in so many of Reich’s earlier works, two identical instruments could interlock to produce one overall pattern. The composer says, “For example, in this piece you will hear the pianos and vibes interlocking in a highly rhythmic way to drive the rest of the ensemble.” The piece can be played in two ways: with 12 musicians, or with six playing against a recording of themselves.