Steve Reich’s Two Pianos Premieres, Available for Download July 17
Eighth Blackbird presents the world premiere of Steve Reich’s Two Pianos at New York’s Town Hall. The new score will also be available on www.boosey.com as a digital download.
On July 17, four-time GRAMMY-winning sextet Eighth Blackbird presents a concert of music by Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, and Nico Muhly in New York City’s Town Hall. On the program, pianists Nico Muhly and Lisa Kaplan perform the world premiere of Steve Reich’s Two Pianos, written for the two musicians.
> July 17: Steve Reich, Two Pianos (World Premiere) with Nico Muhly and Lisa Kaplan, pianos
The four minute–long work for two pianos was written in late 2020 during the height of the pandemic, following the completion of his large ensemble work Traveler’s Prayer, a haunting, profoundly meditative work set to Hebrew Biblical texts. The score for Two Pianos is structured as a theme and variations in D minor, which undergo a process of inversions and retrogrades. Reich states: “The focus of this piece is on the details—how long you hold the chord, when you release it, when you put the pedal down, when you lift it. The blending of sounds and harmonies is of the utmost importance.”
As with Traveler’s Prayer, Two Pianos notably does not feature a driving pulse, a signature characteristic in much of Reich’s music. Instead, the two piano parts trade chords and layer sustained harmonies in a searching, measured manner—“like a posthumous work by Satie,” the composer wryly comments.
Two Pianos is available starting July 17 as a digital download from www.boosey.com. Other Reich works available for digital download include the following scores:
- Grand Street Counterpoint (2003, arr. 2023) for solo bassoon and tape - listen here
- Know What Is Above You (1999) for four voices and percussion
- Piano Counterpoint?(1973, arr. 2011) for piano and tape
> View Reich works available for digital download
World Premiere Information
Wednesday, July 17, 2024 at 8pm ET
Town Hall | New York, NY
More info
Eighth Blackbird
Nico Muhly, piano
Blackbird Creative lab Artists
NICO MUHLY Doublespeak
NICO MUHLY Perpetual Motion
STEVE REICH Two Pianos (World Premiere)
NICO MUHLY Resonant Fall
NICO MUHLY No Uncertain Terms
MEREDITH MONK Ellis Island
MEREDITH MONK Phantom Waltz
STEVE REICH Double Sextet
> Further information on Work: Two Pianos
Photo: Jeffrey Herman
