Music to Quilt By

Steve Reich

It has always, of course, been known to me that Steve Reich is a magnificent composer, and I have long admired and enjoyed his music.

Well, that's not quite true, actually.  When I was young and stupid I did not enjoy his music.  I had the very good fortune to go see Different Trains when it was played by Kronos Quartet at Central Park Summerstage many, many years ago.  It was one of those amazing nights that New York offers.  Outside in a park listening to world-class music by a world-class string quartet.  For free.  Did I appreciate it?  No, because I was young and stupid.

Fast forward several years: I had the great good fortune to re-evaluate my folly under similarly amazing New York circumstances.  We produced an evening of dance at Symphony Space that made my head spin.  David Neumann performed, among others, a piece by Steve Reich called "It's Gonna Rain."  His breathtaking performance totally clarified the music for me.  Watching the music entirely changed my understanding of it.  The use of repetition to create a new rhythmic and melodic form was beautiful to me in a way that made me feel utterly ashamed for not having previously noticed its power.  David's movement aligned with the music was a revelation, and I felt like a new world of music opened up to me.

A year or so later I saw Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker's thrilling choreography to "Drumming" and I was again struck by how compelling the music was, partly because of seeing the music move.

I no longer need to see the music danced to love Steve Reich.  Now I listen to it and am thrilled and amazed by its intricacy, delicacy and its hypnotic short-term evolution.  And it turns out to be perfect music to quilt by.  My rhythms don't match his, but sometimes I feel like the spirals of concentration that I get into are echoed by those beautiful marimbas, that theatre of voices or those 18 musicians.

I only wish that my dad had lived long enough for me to convert him.  His musical world was a 19th Century one, and he couldn't find much room for Steve Reich next to Brahms.  If only he could have seen it about to rain.