Steve reich brief biography of mahatma gandhi

Stephen Michael “Steve” Reich (pronounced /ˈraɪʃ/; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer who pioneered the style of minimalist music. His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns (examples are his early compositions, "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out"), and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts (for instance, "Pendulum Music" and "Four Organs").

These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, have significantly influenced contemporary music, especially in the US. Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage, notably the Grammy Award-winning Different Trains.

Reich's style of composition influenced many other composers and musical groups. Reich has been described by The Guardian as one of "a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered

In the second of a four-part series, Peter Reynolds looks at different strands in contemporary music with a focus on composers in the immediate here and now. This week he writes about five composers who have, in different ways, attracted the label “minimalist”.

It was the composer Michael Nyman who applied the word “minimalism” to a movement that started in the United States in the late 1950s. Arising out of the music of La Monte Young, it hit the headlines with Terry Riley’s epoch-making In C in 1963. Even the title was shocking; what, after the great modernist adventures, could be more retrogressive than returning to C major? In the mid 1960s both Philip Glass and Steve Reich followed on with a new kind of music rooted in tonality, but producing a bold new soundworld.

Minimalist music is a tapestry of small, repetitive patterns, gradually metamorphosing into one another. Using the simplest musical ideas, its unceasing rhythmic repetition paradoxically creates stasis. There are no climaxes, build-ups of tension or release, no emotional catharsis.

Pure minimalism had largely disappeared by the mid 80s, but a generation looking, in a world of complexity, for simplicity and clarity developed their own minimalist approach: Arvo Pärt’s stripped-back liturgical music became known as Holy Minimalism and Howard Skempton’s pared-down music creates simple yet ambiguous miniatures. Today the effects of minimalism are all about us, from film and television through to jazz, world and pop music in all its different guises.

Baltimore-born composer Philip Glass is synonymous with “minimalism”: Beguiling and trance-like, his music reflects late 1960s New York where, along with composer Steve Reich, Glass’ earliest characteristic pieces were written and performed. Classics include his operas Einstein on the Beach (1976) and Satyagraha (1979),

Last month, Columbia University Press published Transfigured New York by Brooke Wentz. As an undergrad, Wentz hosted a radio show interviewing experimental musicians and avante-garde artists of the 80s and 90s. The book features never-before-heard conversations with genre-bending musicians that capture the candid and creative energy of downtown New York. In this excerpt, Wentz talks to Philip Glass, notorious composer and pianist, about carving a path in the industry. 

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In the1980s, no othercontemporarycomposercreatedmorebuzzamongaudiences and inthepressthanPhilipGlass.Hisrepetitive,minimalist style madeclassicalmusic hip toyoungeraudiences and mesmerized stalwart listeners. His music took its cues from the sustained tones of La MonteYoung and Terry Riley’s A RainbowinCurvedAir(1969) and echoed New York colleagueSteve Reich’s famed tape loop pieces. But Glass’s subtle,shift-shapingchordprogressionswereentirely his own.

Glass grew up in Baltimore, where he poured over his father’s record collection as if it were a canonical text.HisformalschoolingcameattheJuilliard School, and he studiedinPariswithNadiaBoulanger and DariusMilhaud.Aroundthattime,GlassvisitedIndia and met RaviShankar and the Dalai Lama, whoseexpertisebroadened his philosophical and sonic palette.

After returning to New York, he began performing small ensemble works in art galleries and forvariousavant-gardetheaterproductions,includingone he cofounded called MabouMinesinNova Scotia. Glasswasattractedtothetrance-likequalitiesfoundinIndonesiangamelanmusic and thesoothingsitar of Indianmusic.Hiscomposing style began tobringinvoices and electrickeyboards.His1971compositionMusicinTwelvePartswas a pivotalfour-hour piece thatculminatedinsopranovoiceunder a twelve-tonetheme and launched his definitivecomposition style for years tocome.Anupcomingperformance of that