Reich: Tehillim, Three Movements

Schoenberg Ensemble
Percussion Group The Hague
Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor

London Symphony Orchestra
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Repertoire
Steve Reich: Tehillim
Steve Reich: Three Movements

Reich -- for the first time in his mature career as a composer -- experiments with modulation between keys and other elements of tonality that he had previously ignored. Indeed, when the final movement, after three movements' worth of Reich's characteristic tonal ambiguity, finally "affirms the key of D major as the basic tonal center," as Reich's lucid liner notes helpfully explain, the effect, combined with the increasing power and passion of the female voices, is astonishing.
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