Steve Reich
In our terrestrial view of things, the speed of light seems incredibly fast. But as soon as you view it against the vast distances of the universe, it's unfortunately very slow. This animation illustrates, in realtime, the journey of a photon of light emitted from the surface of the sun and traveling across a portion of the solar system, from a human perspective. Liberties were taken with certain things like the alignment of planets and asteroids, as well as ignoring the laws of relativity concerning what a photon actually "sees" or how time is experienced at the speed of light, but overall the size and distances of all the objects were kept as accurate as possible. It was also decided to end the animation just past Jupiter to keep the running length below an hour.
Light Motif is an experimental computer graphics short film. Light Motif explores the possibilities of synergy between image and music in the cinematic tradition of Oskar Fischinger and visual music animation. The film is based on Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians, Section II. Procedural generation techniques are used to transpose the motifs and compositional processes into a semi-abstract visual form made of colored lights and geometric shapes.
The American composer Steve Reich joins for this concert the Estonian-American director Kristjan Järvi and the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir to interpret some of his most famous compositions at the Salle Pleyel.
A captivating history of the nation's oldest performing arts center - which largely mirrors the evolution of experimental and progressive performing arts in 20th century America - BAM150 chronicles the vibrant past, present and future of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Through footage of recent performances, intimate interviews, and an astonishing treasure trove of 150 years' worth of archival materials, BAM150 is a testament to the power and stamina of the institution that established Brooklyn as a cultural mecca-serving as a home to such greats as Enrico Caruso, Sarah Bernhardt, Edwin Booth, Merce Cunningham, Robert Wilson, Mark Morris, Laurie Anderson, and Pina Bausch.
Present in nearly all cultures and used for many purposes, drums have unique shapes, sounds, names and accents in each region of the world. Behind this vast legacy are individuals who play them and are touched by these ancestral instruments. From the rare budimas used by Tonga people in Zambia to the large drums of the Chinese temples, from the religious festivals of Brazil to the rhythmic richness of the Arab World, these men and women keep this tradition alive.
In his most recent work, Christian Frei turns to an age-old dream of man: to leave our planet as a «normal person» and travel into outer space. For 20 million dollars, the American Anousheh Ansari was able to fulfil this childhood dream. This documentary follows her journey into space and shows everyday life as it is on the International Space Station.
A powerful and seductive Hollywood mogul convinces an impoverished West Hollywood writer, whose lover has recently died of AIDS, to sell his autobiographical screenplay for big bucks. The writer, Robert, knows he'll have to make major changes in the script (like changing the sex of the dying lover). During the rewrite, the producer, Jeffrey, takes Robert under his wing, introducing him to his wife Elaine, herself a closet screenwriter. Jeffrey approaches Robert for sex and Elaine approaches Robert out of curiosity about his sex life in grief. The entangled triangle of relationships threatens more than the completion of a film script. Written by
"Fase" consists of three duets and one solo dance, choreographed to four repetitive compositions by the American minimalist musician, Steve Reich: Piano Phase, Come Out, Violin Phase and Clapping Music. Reich allows his tones to gradually shift in rhythm and melody and between the instruments. The choreography applies the same phase-shifting principle. The purely abstract movements are executed so perfectly that they seem almost mechanical and yet affect us in a strange way.
Peer into the world of contemporary composer John Adams with this documentary that blends performance footage with insightful interviews and commentary from his collaborators and the master himself. Highlights include performances of Adams's Grammy Award-winning operas "Nixon in China" and "El Niño" and excerpts from Penny Woolcock's film adaptation of "The Death of Klinghoffer." Works by Steve Reich and Conlon Nancarrow are also performed by the Ensemble InterContemporain at the Théâtre Musical de Paris-Châtelet.
A profile of composer Steve Reich, a leading creator of stripped-down, "minimal" music. The program explores how Reich's music eventually became accessible to the musical audience at large. Included are interviews with the composer himself, and contemporaries, and also performances of some of his works.
A brief overview and focus on composers Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe, John Cage, Steve Reich, Elliott Carter and their contemporaries.
A student of Darius Milhaud and Luciano Berio, musician Steve Reich (born in 1936) quickly developed a style of his own, inspired by Baroque music, Bartók, Webern and Stravinsky, as well as jazz, traditional music (especially African), and Hebrew cantillation. As a trailblazing exponent of minimalist music, Reich rejected the characteristic complexity of mid-20th-century classical harmony and tonality in order to make large-scale works from minimal materials a single chord, a brief musical motif, a spoken exclamation – thereby reconciling sacred and popular music. In this profile he looks back on the key stages of his 40-years lasting career, from the formation of his own group, Steve Reich and Musicians, to the American avant-garde he helped to create, from new video performances to his quasi-religious music. Despite his success and wide recognition Steve Reich has never renounced his independent spirit.
