STEVE REICH

Composer Steve Reich is widely considered the third major pioneer of minimalism (following in the footsteps of La Monte Young and Terry Riley). Credited as the innovator behind phasing Ñ a process whereby two tape loops lined up in unison gradually move out of phase with each other, ultimately coming back into sync Ñ his early experiments in tape manipulation also anticipated the emergence of hip-hop sampling by well over a decade. Reich studied philosophy at Cornell University; while at the Juilliard School of Music, he turned to composition, finally landing at Mills College in Oakland, California under the tutelage of avant-garde composers Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud. Reich’s work has varied from quintessential minimalism (1972’s self-explanatory Clapping Music) to orchestral compositions (1976’s Music for Eighteen Musicians, again everything its title promises), with the latter aesthetic becoming his primary focus in later years. Rarely recorded throughout his first decades as an artist, during the 1980s, Reich’s major works finally began appearing on album, among them 1988’s Different Trains, a Holocaust-inspired piece created for live string quartet, pre-recorded string quartet and sampled voices. On LP it was paired with Electric Counterpoint, a composition for jazz guitarist Pat Metheny which was later sampled by the UK ambient duo the Orb on their hit “Little Fluffy Clouds.”