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Reich: The Cave

Reich: The Cave

Other Views:
Creators: Steve Reich, Paul Hillier, Cheryl Bensman, Marion Beckenstein, James Bassi, Hugo Munday
Label: Nonesuch
Category: Music

List Price: £23.99
Buy New: £15.50
as of 23/11/2009 21:41 GMT details
You Save: £8.49 (35%)


New (10) Used (4) from £14.50

Seller: elitedigitaluk
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars 2 reviews
Sales Rank: 149046

Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 1.3

UPC: 075597932720
EAN: 0075597932720
ASIN: B000005J2C

Release Date: December 11, 1995
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Tracks:

  • Act I
  • Act II
  • Act II
  • Act III
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Customer Reviews:
5 out of 5 stars Beautiful and clever   May 6, 2007
Martin Smith (The Industrial North)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Readers who have heard Reich's previous "Different Trains" or his later "City Life" or "Three Tales" will already have come across his astonishing technique of setting rich and vibrant music to match the tones and rythyms of everyday speech. br / br /Here, once again, he takes recordings of various people (academics, religious leaders, Carl Sagan) who are responding to questions such as "Who Is Abraham". The orchestrations are richer than "Different Trains", and so we get Reich's trademark vibes/piano/oboe/flute against the previous work's string quartet stylings. br / br /It is often startling to hear the richness present in everyday speech patterns, and there are interesting contrasts and similarities between the speech of Arabic, Jewish and American speakers. This is even (in the case of Carl Sagan, for example) amusing, bordering on parody. (It shows up Steve's prejudices a little though, that he sounds like he's mocking those he doesn't agree with, such as Sagan, or Dawkins on "Three Tales") br / br /This speech-pattern music is contrasted with quotes from the Old Testament, presumably to show the common ground between Jews, Muslims and Christians. The biblical verses are sung by a choir rather than a tape of interviewees, and have a clapping rythym similar to Reich's "Clapping Music". This touches on the Jewish idea that speech, number and rythym is strongly related. This quote music will be familiar to those who have heard "Tehilim". br / br /A third element is field recording from "the cave of the patriarchs" - the place where Abraham and Adam and Eve are supposedely buried and a remaining relic from the garden of eden. Recordings from within this cave have an "implied a-minor drone" - which flavours the entire piece - not just the key, but the beautifully warm reverb which envelops the strings, piano and vibes. br / br /The overall effect is to contract the words of Jews and Palestinians (who are more or less united by their strong and unquestioning beliefs) and Americans (who seem cynical, confused or ignorant - "I have no idea" is one phrase repeated over and over). br / br /If you have enjoyed Reich's music, this is a must-have. General music lovers should give it a try - it is very approachable for a twentieth century work. It develops the classical idiom further by adding the sampling keyboard to the instruments of the orchestra. Even pop fans may like it, for Reich's work is influenced as much by pop and jazz as by classical music. It is an excellent quality recording - crystal clear vocals and separated instruments. br / br /I am not religious in my outlook, but I find this very moving and life-affirming. It is also extremely stately and beautiful - I find it the warmest piece in Reich's canon of work. It shows him moving away from the cold intellect of minimalism and increasingly influenced by the humanism of his faith. br /


4 out of 5 stars A new type of musical theatre.   April 7, 2001
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Steve Reich and his wife, Beryl Korot, joined forces to produce 'The Cave', a new development in musical performance. The original performance fused Reich's live music with multiple video tracks co-ordinated by Korot.pThe electric 'Typing Music', which opens the piece when performed live, melds typed text onscreen with sound, as the words are literally rapped out. Exciting stuff, however I'm not convinced that the cds quite catch the drama of the live performance.pSubsequent tracks use Reich's technique of putting music to the recorded spoken word, as first used in 'Different Trains'. Reich and Korot interviewed Jews and non-Jews from Jerusalem and from the US and asked them a series of simple open-ended questions about key figures in Jewish history/faith, such as Abraham and Sarah. The results are put to music by Reich, using much longer phrases and less editing than he used in 'Different Trains'. Personally, I think the results make an interesting documentary, but are rather less successful musically than 'Different Trains'.

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