thirteen ways

Previously: Reich take 1, Reich take 2.

Below, a video with snippets from our recording session last weekend. First, Judy (the Sher) in the booth, listening to the Duv and Kap and making comments; second, the Duv, the Kap and the Sher talk vibraphone mallets as they try to find the right sound for the final section of the piece; third, 8bb on stage, receiving comments from the Sher through a little speaker; fourth, a tour of the recording stage and of our juvenile minds; and finally, 8bb discusses interpretative approach for a section in the second movement.

Below, the Duv’s recording setup: discarded shoes; essential caffeine in the form of Mountain Dew (”Totally. Addictive”); snack foods in the form of Chex Mix; A=442 vibe bars in the background, having been carefully removed to make way for our own A=440 bars.

Reich is overbearingly precise with articulation markings. Instead of writing “sim” after several bars of a given articulation, the composer writes a marking above every note. Below, the very final moments of the work. Observe the precisely detailed marking (a staccato dot, a tenuto line AND an accent); then look at the final note of the piece, circled, which is the only note in the previous hundred bars without a staccato sign. (Reich’s subtle version of a climactic, Mahlerian super-fermata?)

The gang during playback:

Below, the gang lazin’ about on stage. The seating plan was changed because of instrumental doublings: I sat next to the Alb because we play unison lines together, while the Phot and the Mac also often share the same music.

Below, a typical section from the Kap’s totally insane piano part. It was a source of constant amazement how little the Kap and the Duv screwed up during 12 hours of recording sessions, given the solid black mass of driving mixed-meter eighth notes that dominate their parts:

Judy’s adorable hairpin microphone-cord-holders:

L to R, Mike Burns, the Phot, the Mac, the Duv, the Alb, the Kap, the Sher, the Aussie:

You can see more photos from our sessions at our flickr page.