Quick Facts About Steve Reich
- Born
- October 3, 1936
- Nationality
- United States
- Profession
- Composer
- Notable works
- Conversations
- Known for
- Variations for Vibes, Piano, and Strings, Daniel Variations, Double Sextet, Eight Lines
- Spouse
- Beryl Korot
About Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich describes this concept in his essay "Music as a Gradual Process" by stating, "I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music." For example, his early works experiment with phase shifting, in which one or more repeated phrases plays slower or faster than the others, causing it to go "out of phase." This creates new musical patterns in a perceptible flow.
Biography source:
Wikipedia
