Before the premiere of his Music for Eighteen Musicians, in 1976, Reich worked as a rock musician would—exclusively with his own band, on tour and in the recording studio, and outside the mainstream culture that had accepted the music of, for example, Carter and Boulez. By the 1990s, though, there were no more countercultures; Reich's music was one of the threads in a multicoloured tangle.

early steps

Steve Reich toured Britain two years ago; last night he returned, to the Queen Elizabeth Hall, bringing a programme of music composed since his previous visit. It is with his work as a whole as it is with each piece: the framework and the basic ideas remain constant while details fluctuate and change.

One principle of Reich's work is ‘phasing’, moving short rhythmic ideas into and out of synchrony. Clapping Music demonstrates this in the simplest possible way, with just two musicians using nothing but their hands. Well, not quite nothing: maintaining your own rhythm while listening closely to another requires concentration and training. Reich tours with his own performing ensemble, which has cultivated this double-mindedness to breathtaking perfection.

So much was evident in their playing of Music for Pieces of Wood. Five performers, each with a pair of claves, gradually build up a texture of similar rhythms jostling in a steady pulse. The effect is more fascinating than hypnotic, as the mind moves from one line to another, jumping back to the first to find it changed.