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    Six Pianos - Wikipedia

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    John England

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    Six Pianos - Wikipedia

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    Six Pianos - Wikipedia

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    Six Pianos

    Six Pianos is a minimalist piece for six pianos by the American


    composer Steve Reich. It was completed in March 1973. He also
    composed a variation for six marimbas, called Six Marimbas, in
    1986.[1] The world première performance of Six Pianos was in May
    1973 at the John Weber Gallery in New York City. The European
    première took place in January the next year in Stuttgart,
    Germany.[2]

    Reich's idea was originally for a piece titled Piano Store that could
    be played on all the pianos in a piano store. A friend in New York
    gave him and his fellow musicians access to the Baldwin Piano and
    Organ Company's premises during evenings, where they could try
    out ideas.[1] Reich eventually settled on an ensemble of six upright
    pianos in close proximity, which would allow very precise timing
    without being masked by the resonance of grand pianos.[1] Steve Reich in 1976

    Contents
    Structure
    Adapted versions
    Recordings
    References
    Further reading

    Structure
    The piece begins with three pianists playing different notes to the same 8-beat rhythmic
    pattern. Then two more pianists begin to play the same pattern shifted two beats out of phase.
    (Phasing is a prominent technique in most of Steve Reich's work.) Different phase shifts of the
    same motifs fade in and out of the ever-changing musical texture for the duration of the piece.
    The piece also uses the additive technique of gradually building up parts by substituting notes
    for rests, and the opposite.[3] Six Pianos is also notable by being one of Reich's only pieces in
    duple time.

    Six Pianos has three sections, separated by relatively sudden changes of tonal center, though
    they all use the same seven pitch classes of the D major diatonic scale. The first section is in D
    major, with the tonality anchored in place by a persistent pattern of D and A in the bass. Then
    that pattern slowly fades out, leaving a B minor tonality which serves as a short transition to the
    second section in E Dorian. A sudden transition leads to the third section in B natural minor.
    Six Marimbas follows the same structure, but is transposed down by one semitone so that the
    piece opens in D flat major and concludes in B flat natural minor.
    Adapted versions
    Six Marimbas Counterpoint is a version of Six Marimbas arranged by the Japanese
    percussionist Kuniko Kato in which one live marimba plays against five pre-recorded marimbas.
    A recorded version was included in her 2010 album of Reich pieces, Kuniko Plays Reich.[4][5]

    Piano Counterpoint is an arrangement of Six


    Pianos by the pianist Vincent Corver, following
    the format of Reich's Counterpoint series in
    which one live instrument plays against pre-
    recorded versions of the same instrument. This
    arrangement has four pre-recorded parts and
    one solo part, combining the two foreground
    melodic parts of Six Pianos. Piano
    Counterpoint's sonic difference from the
    original comes from the use of amplification
    and from the solo part in which some of the
    melodic phrases are an octave higher. Corver
    created this arrangement in 2011.[6] Piano
    Counterpoint is performed by Corver himself The London Sinfonietta performing Six Marimbas in
    on an album released by the London Steve 2005
    [7]
    Reich Ensemble in 2011 and by Vicky Chow
    (known as pianist in the Bang on a Can All
    Stars) in an album released in 2014.[8] Chow played the piece at a somewhat slower tempo to
    give a different feel to Corver's version.[9]

    Folkwang University of the Arts professor Mie Miki adapted the piece for accordions: the
    resulting Six Accordions premièred in Tokyo in 2010.[10]

    American DJ Kerri Chandler released a house-music track called Six Pianos that interpolates
    the Reich piece.[11]

    Recordings
    The original version of the piece was recorded in Hamburg (Rahlstedt), Musikstudio 1, in
    January 1974. It was issued on LP in a box set with Drumming and Music for Mallet
    Instruments, Voices and Organ.[12] It was later reissued as a single LP with Drumming (which
    occupies 4 sides of LPs) omitted.[13] Both releases were on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

    A sixteen-minute recoding of Six Marimbas is included in Reich's box set Works 1965–1995.

    References
    1. Keith Potter (25 April 2002). Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve
    Reich, Philip Glass (https://books.google.com/books?id=sc61Gy3r8HAC&pg=PA226).
    Cambridge University Press. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-521-01501-1.
    2. Maxwell, Grant Lyle (1993). Music for Three Or More Pianists: A Historical Survey and
    Catalogue. Scarecrow Press. p. 97. ISBN 9780810826311.
    3. Reich, Steve (2002). Writings on Music, 1965–2000, p. 73. ISBN 9780195354782.
    4. Pritchard, Stephen (24 April 2011). "Kuniko Plays Reich – review" (https://www.theguardian.
    4. Pritchard, Stephen (24 April 2011). "Kuniko Plays Reich – review" (https://www.theguardian.
    com/music/2011/apr/24/kuniko-plays-reich-review). The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December
    2015.
    5. Bailey, C. Michael (5 October 2013). "Kuniko: At The Bare Minimalism" (http://www.allaboutj
    azz.com/kuniko-at-the-bare-minimalism-by-c-michael-bailey.php). All About Jazz. Retrieved
    9 December 2015.
    6. Reich, Steve. "Reich – Corver: Piano Counterpoint: Composer's Notes" (http://www.boosey.
    com/cr/music/Steve-Reich-Piano-Counterpoint/100369). Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved
    9 December 2015.
    7. Gill, Andy (2 September 2011). "Album: The London Steve Reich Ensemble, Reich:
    Different Trains; Triple Quartet; Piano Counterpoint (EMI Classics)" (https://www.independe
    nt.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-the-london-steve-reich-ensemble-reich-
    different-trains-triple-quartet-piano-counterpoint-emi-2347608.html). The Independent.
    Retrieved 10 December 2015.
    8. Clements, Andrew (2 October 2014). "Reich: Radio Rewrite; Electric Counterpoint; Piano
    Counterpoint CD review – this take on Radiohead is typical late Reich" (https://www.theguar
    dian.com/music/2014/oct/02/reich-radio-rewrite-cd-review-radiohead). The Guardian.
    Retrieved 9 December 2015.
    9. Varty, Alexander (23 January 2013). "Reich + Rite pianist Vicky Chow takes on frightening
    fingerwork" (https://www.straight.com/arts/345136/reich-rite-pianist-vicky-chow-takes-frighte
    ning-fingerwork). The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
    10. "Folkwängler spielen japanische Erstaufführung von Steve Reichs "Six Accordions" in
    Tokyo" (http://www.folkwang-uni.de/de/home/hochschule/aktuell/pressemitteilungen/archiv/v
    ollanzeige/?pressedetails=1608&linkzurueck=170&pos=36&jahre=&monate=&suchbegriff=
    &cHash=ed0ff330e416e35a9296d6122ee4a998). Folkwang University of the Arts.
    Retrieved 2015-12-12.
    11. Carroll, Jim (21 November 2014). "The playlist – the tunes of the week at OTR HQ" (https://
    www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/2014/11/21/the-playlist-the-tunes-of-the-week-at-otr-
    hq-4/). The Irish Times. Retrieved 2015-12-12.
    12. "Steve Reich – Drumming / Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ / Six Pianos" (ht
    tps://www.discogs.com/master/view/32963). Discogs.
    13. "Steve Reich – Six Pianos / Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ" (https://www.di
    scogs.com/master/view/514134). Discogs.

    Further reading
    Roeder, J. (1 September 2003). "Beat-Class Modulation in Steve Reich's Music". Music
    Theory Spectrum. 25 (2): 275–304. doi:10.1525/mts.2003.25.2.275 (https://doi.org/10.1525
    %2Fmts.2003.25.2.275).
    Schwarz, K. Robert (Autumn 1981 – Summer 1982). "Steve Reich: Music as a Gradual
    Process Part II". Perspectives of New Music. 20 (1/2): 225–286. doi:10.2307/942414 (https:/
    /doi.org/10.2307%2F942414). JSTOR 942414 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/942414).

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    This page was last edited on 15 November 2021, at 13:24 (UTC).

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