Steve Reich The Desert Music for 10 (or 27) Amplified Voices and Orchestra (1982/1983)
Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Michael Tilson Thomas
I. First Movement (Fast)
"Begin, my friend for you cannot, you may be sure, take your song, which drives all things out of mind, with you to the other world." (from: Theocritus: Idyll -- A version from the Greek)
II. Second Movement (Moderate)
"Well, shall we think or listen? Is there a sound addressed not wholly to the ear? We half close our eyes. We do not hear it through our eyes. It is not a flute note either, it is the relation of a flute note to a drum. I am wide awake. The mind is listening." (from: The Orchestra)
III. Third Movement. Part One (Slow)
"Say to them: Man has survived hitherto because he was too ignorant to know how to realize his wishes. Not that he can realize them, he must either change them or perish." (from: The Orchestra)
III. Third Movement. Part Two (Moderate)
"It is a principle of music to repeat the them. Repeat and repeat again, as the pace mounts. The theme is difficult but no more difficult than the facts to be esolved." (from: The Orchestra)
III. Third Movement. Part Three (Slow)
"Say to them: Man has survived hitherto because he was too ignorant to know how to realize his wishes. Not that he can realize them, he must either change them or perish." (from: The Orchestra)
IV. Fourth Movement (Moderate)
"Well, shall we think or listen? Is there a sound addresse not wholly to the ear. We half close our eyes. We do not hear it through our eyes. It is not a flute not either, it is the relation of a flute note to a drum. I am wide awake. The mind is listening." (from: The Orchestra)
V. Fifth Movement (Fast)
"Inseperable from the fire its light takes precedence over it. Who most shall advance the light -- call it what you may!" (from Asphodel, That Greeny Flower)
Composer's Notes
The Desert Music was begun September 1982 and completed in December 1983. It was commissioned by The West German Radio, Cologne and The Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. It is a setting of parts of poems by the American poet William Carlos Williams. The duration is 46 minutes.
The title is taken from Dr. Williams’ book of collected poems, The Desert Music. From this collection I chose parts of The Orchestra and Theocritus: Idyl I – A version from the Greek. From another collection I chose a small part of Asphodel, That Greeny Flower. There are no complete poems used and the arrangement of parts is my own. This arrangement was my first compositional activity and the form of the piece into a large arch follows the text...read more
