Local CD release party precedes New York event

The October 16 release of Steve Reich’s minimalist masterpiece, "Music for 18 Musicians," recorded on the Innova Recordings label by Grand Valley State University's New Music Ensemble, will be only the fifth commercial recording of the work, and the first in 5.1 surround. The recording follows the ensemble's performance of the piece in May at the Bang on a Can Marathon in New York, and a field trip where some of the group met Reich and heard his performance at Carnegie Hall.

A local CD release party will be held on Tuesday, October 16, at 5 p.m. in the Sherman Van Solkema Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Allendale Campus. Media are invited to attend. It will feature a live performance, a slide show and short film on the CD’s production, an opportunity to meet the performers and light refreshments. Admission is free and open to the public. The CD retails for $20, but will be available at the release party for $15, cash only. Members of the ensemble will also perform at a New York release party on October 18.

Last October the group traveled to New York City to attend a Steve Reich Festival which included Reich's own ensemble performing the same piece. In addition to lectures, other concerts, and workshops, they met with Reich and several members of his ensemble to discuss strategies for performing the work.

"Just to watch how the ensemble interacted on stage and floated between the instrumental parts was fascinating," said Bill Ryan, who directs the Grand Valley ensemble. "We were all furiously making notes in our scores for our own performance."

Widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the 20th-century, Reich's music draws from not only Western classical music, but from the structures, harmonies, and rhythms of non-Western and American vernacular music. Composed from 1974-76, "Music for 18 Musicians," at just over an hour, is a shimmering journey through lush, pulsing harmonies and slowly evolving melodic patterns. Reich’s latest recording of the work won a Grammy Award in 1999.

Grand Valley’s ensemble, most of whom were born nearly a decade after Reich’s debut of the work in 1976, recorded their CD over three long, grueling days in the Royce Auditorium of St. Cecelia's Music Society in Grand Rapids.

Engineer Silas Brown flew in from New York to handle the sessions. Captured on a hybrid stereo/multichannel, 5.1 surround Super Audio Compact Disc, to best convey the enveloping sound of live performance, it can be played on any standard CD player.

For more information visit newmusicensemble.org or contact Bill Ryan at (616) 460-4339.