However, I'll always be in debt to Glass for getting me into modern music and musical Minimalism, which led me to Steve Reich. Who strangely also become more melodic as his musical ideas progressed. For me my favorite piece is Music for 18 Musicians, good recordings of which send you to the most sublime and transformative musical place for an hour -- that I've ever heard.
His music is also difficult, some pieces can take up to a year for a group to prepare, but for reasons that are entirely different than what most musicians think of as "difficult".
Reich is also one of those composers who you can see a clear musical progression in his career: from almost avante garde experiments with recordings and typical minimalist focuses on single musical ideas (usually phasing), in his later career turned to fantastic rhythms and harmonies and the idea of slowly evolving musical themes. The music sounds almost the same as you listen to it, but before you know it you are somewhere entirely different from where you started. I find myself often skipping back a minute or so mid song to relive the journey and figure out what happened.
When he's not, his music sounds like the output of a really simple music generation algorithm and boring. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNiOqa1nWgI)
However, I'll always be in debt to Glass for getting me into modern music and musical Minimalism, which led me to Steve Reich. Who strangely also become more melodic as his musical ideas progressed. For me my favorite piece is Music for 18 Musicians, good recordings of which send you to the most sublime and transformative musical place for an hour -- that I've ever heard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLckHHc25ww
His music is also difficult, some pieces can take up to a year for a group to prepare, but for reasons that are entirely different than what most musicians think of as "difficult".
Another favorite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edKE10Yz_zs
Reich is also one of those composers who you can see a clear musical progression in his career: from almost avante garde experiments with recordings and typical minimalist focuses on single musical ideas (usually phasing), in his later career turned to fantastic rhythms and harmonies and the idea of slowly evolving musical themes. The music sounds almost the same as you listen to it, but before you know it you are somewhere entirely different from where you started. I find myself often skipping back a minute or so mid song to relive the journey and figure out what happened.