Composer Steve Reich (left) with Andrew Burke, CEO of the London Sinfonietta
During a rare visit to the UK, a world-renowned American composer told an enthralled audience at the University of Sussex yesterday (7 March) how he came to write a work about the events surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Steve Reich is one of the pioneering composers (along with Philip Glass) of what is known as "minimalist" music. During a special lecture on campus, he discussed WTC 9/11 , a string quartet composed almost a decade after two planes flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, just four blocks from his home in New York. Into his composition, Reich wove a "speech melody" of voices - a mix of emergency messages recorded on 11 September 2001 and s he conducted in 2010. Before playing the 15-and-a-half-minute recording in full, Reich explained how he came to write WTC 9/11 . He said: "In 2009, David Harrington, the lead violinist of the Kronos quartet, asked me to write a piece using pre-recorded voices. "But I had no idea what the voices would be.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
