Writings About Music

New York: New York University Press/Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, 1974. Paperback. Good +. Octavo, 78 pages. Firm binding; no loose pages. Book and cover with minor wear. Tanned pages; no writing or marks observed. Stephen Michael Reich (1936 - present) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is known for its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich describes this concept in his essay, "Music as a Gradual Process", by stating, "I am interested in perceptible processes. I want to be able to hear the process happening throughout the sounding music." In his introduction to "Writings About Music," Reich states, "Some of the essays in this book discuss the rhythm structure of my music since rhythmic structure has a kind of universality that lends itself very naturally to analysis and explanation. Other aspects of the music, like pitch and timbre, while clearly of equal importance, are not mentioned as often because they are more subjective and, perhaps, less suited to explanations and analysis." Reich won many awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2009.