Composer Steve Reich, one of the fathers of minimalist music, discusses the cross-cultural influences on his work from African drumming to Jewish cantorial singing. His latest composition is "Desert Music" which features the poems of William Carlos Williams.
The minimalist composer's new piece, Different Trains, contrasts Reich's childhood experiences crossing the country by rail to visit his divorced parents with the memories of Holocaust survivors' journey to concentration camps. The music incorporates recordings of several interviews into the orchestration.
Minimalist composer Steve Reich. He's considered one of our foremost living composers. There's a new CD "Reich Remixed" (Nonesuch) a dance album in which American, British, and Japanese DJ's pay tribute to Reich, by sampling and reassembling his music. Reich will be the subject of this summer's Lincoln Center Festival. And Reich's "Triple Quartet" written for and performed by the Kronos Quartet, will have its world premiere on May 22nd at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
Composer Steve Reich is known as a prominent "minimalist." Reich joins the show to discuss that term, his own career and influences, and whether he is the "safe" avant-garde composer.
Part 2 of the Fresh Air interview with composer Steve Reich. He talks about a new compostion called Electric Counterpoint, written for guitarist Pat Metheney. Metheny pre-recorded ten tracks, then performed the solo part live.
Adams is often associated with other minimalist composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich. His new album, The Chairman Dances, features parts of his new opera-in-progress called Nixon in China.
Drummer and composer Bobby Previte. His music has been described as "... a blend of Charles Mingus' bluesy hoedowns and Steve Reich's trancelike minimalism." Previte began as a rock drummer and now composes in a wide variety of genres, from choral works and string quartets to film score and jazz. His new album is titled "Pushing the Envelope."
Classical Music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new album of opera overtures played on wind instruments, "Overture" by the Harmonie Ensemble of New York, conducted by Steve Richman (on the Music & Arts Programs of America label: 510-525-4583).
Steven Bach's biography Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl examines the filmmaker who celebrated the Nazi ideal and created the Third Reich's iconic images in Triumph of the Will and Olympiad. Bach details Riefenstahl's ruthless, opportunistic ambition, analyzes her "self-righteous entitlement," and explores her relationships with Hitler, Goebbels and Albert Speer. What emerges is a compulsively readable and scrupulously crafted work.
Richard Zanuck grew up on movies — literally. The son of legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck, who founded and ran Twentieth Century Fox studios in Hollywood's golden era, he became an Oscar-winning producer himself. His latest project: Sweeney Todd, the big-screen version of the legendary Stephen Sondheim musical. Zanuck's credits include Driving Miss Daisy, Jaws, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Verdict Rules of Engagement, and many more. Besides which, "I can mention a lot of pictures I'm unhappy about," he tells Terry Gross.
In The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea, veteran journalist Steve LeVine writes about the high-stakes political gamesmanship over control of the rich oil resources in that region.
In 2008, GM closed its manufacturing plant in Dayton, Ohio, sending the community into a tailspin. Workers who had been unionized at GM struggled to find jobs that paid close to the wages the plant had paid.
A live concert in the WHYY Forum with jazz clarinetist Don Byron and his "Bug Orchestra." On their new recording "Bug Music," they play the music of The Raymond Scott Quintette, John Kirby & His Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra -- and a lot of cartoon music. Byron has become best known for playing klezmer, but musically he's all over the map: he plays jazz with his Don Byron Quintet, modern classical music with the Semaphore quintet, and he toured Europe with Music for Six Musicians, an Afro-Cuban ensemble.
Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Cry Freedom," starring Kevin Kline as South African journalist Donald Woods, and Denzel Washington as anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko. The movie portrays the friendship that developed between Woods, a white reporter, and Biko, one of the leading foes of apartheid. "Cry Freedom" is directed by Richard Attenborough.
Raichlen's new book is "The Barbecue Bible" (Workman Publishing) which includes over 500 recipes which he collected in his worldwide travels researching and tasting the way foods are barbecued in other countries. His travels took him to The Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Raichlen wrote the award-winning cookbooks, "Miami Spice" and the "High-Flavor, Low-Fat" series.
