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Reich's The Desert Music

Stephen Johnson explores themes of creativity, love and nuclear armageddon in Steve Reich's The Desert Music from 1983, setting the words of Theocritus.

By the early 1980s, Steve Reich had won acclaim for the sensuous, almost trance-like brand of minimalism of "Music For 18 Musicians" and "Drumming". Yet "The Desert Music", from 1983, marked a new direction in his career.

Setting William Carlos Williams' adaptation of the Ancient Greek poet Theocritus, the text explores the idea of deserts as places of creativity, delirious visions, love - and destruction. But more than this, Reich's work for voices and ensemble captures Cold War anxieties over nuclear armageddon - as Stephen Johnson discovers...

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20 minutes

Last on

Tue 15 Oct 2013 20:10
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Roy Harris

    Symphony No. 3

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • Deutsche Grammophon 419 780-2.
    • 1.

  • Steve Reich

    Clapping Music

    Performer: Russell Hartenberger. Performer: Steve Reich.
    • Nonesuch 9791692.
    • 3.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony No. 6 - mvt 1

    Orchestra: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Leif Segerstam.
    • Ondine ODE1062.
    • 5.

  • Steve Reich

    Music for 18 Musicians

    Ensemble: Steve Reich and Musicians.
    • ECM 8214172.
    • 1.

Credit

Composer Steve Reich

Broadcast

  • Tue 15 Oct 2013 20:10
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3