My Mixtape: Steve Reich – Traveler’s Prayer

For most of us, approaching such a milestone would perhaps be a sign to slow down, to let the next generation take up the slack. Not Reich. In his ninth decade he continues to produce new and captivating work, from orchestral pieces – such as his 2018 Music for Ensemble and Orchestra – to collaborative pieces, like his 2019 connection with Gerhard Richter on a multimedia presentation for The Shed.

Reich’s latest work, Traveler’s Prayer, for voices, strings and percussion, was penned whilst he was stuck in lockdown in California. Described by Reich as ‘a piece in which there is no audible beat at all,’ it’s title refers to Wayfarer’s Prayer from Hebrew ritual, whilst the composition itself explores the notion of journeys both real and mortal.

This piece is one of several by the composer set to be performed by the Colin Currie Group in their 19 October concert in our Royal Festival Hall. And ahead of that concert Reich kindly put together this playlist of recordings that have a connection with Traveler’s Prayer, the inclusions for which he explains thus.

Perotin – Viderunt Omnes

Hilliard Ensemble – ECM records
(pay particular attention from the opening until 3:50)

Perotin has influenced much of my music. I first heard his music in about 1953 as part of Prof. William Austin’s music history class at Cornell University. I was immediately moved and had to find out what was going on. Of course what was going on was augmentation, making a line of Gregorian Chant enormously longer and turning a single note into a drone that served as the harmonic centre for a moment or more of the music. Melody note becomes drone and temporary harmonic centre. Radical and gorgeous. The first piece of mine clearly influenced by Perotin is Four Organs (1970) which is entirely about carefully worked out and enormously extended augmentation. Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (1973), Music for 18 Musicians (1976), and Tehillim (1981) are all influenced similarly and Proverb (1995) is an homage to Perotin. 

Josquin des Pres – Qui Habitat

Huelgas Ensemble – Paul Van Nevel – Harmonia Mundi

This remarkable 24 voice motet is a setting of Psalm 91 in latin translation. It is a series of four, six-voice canons in relatively static harmony, which in this recording hovers around a modal F major. In contemporary terms it could be described as a kind of prototype minimal tour de force. Nico Muhly made me aware of this piece. Since he was a child chorister, early music is a big part of his musical background. I share his enthusiasm for this beautiful work.

Tehillim (1981)

Alarm Will Sound – Canteloup Records

A lot of assumptions were made years ago that somehow melodies in Tehillim were drawn from cantillation. Absolutely not. I composed everything using no traditional sources. The tradition for chanting Psalms has been lost in the West and only the Yemenite Jewish community has a living tradition, which is, of course, microtonal and not on our tempered scales. On the other hand Traveler’s Prayer most certainly does use traditional chant melodies for the first and second sections. The third is a psalm text so of course I composed that melody.

Proverb (1995)

Theater of Voices/Paul Hillier – Nonesuch Records

Proverb, as mentioned earlier, was written as an homage to Perotin. The augmentation canons are not something Perotin did, but the augmentation itself is, of course, from him. The tenor’s melismatic vowel elaborations are certainly reminiscent of Perotin’s syllable elongations.

Daniel Variations (2006)

Los Angeles Master Chorale/ Grant Gershon – Nonesuch records

I include this though I don’t think this has anything directly to do with Traveler’s Prayer. It is simply a piece of my own vocal music that I particularly like. The whole piece is a memorial to Daniel Pearl, murdered in 2002 in Pakistan by Muslim fundamentalists. Pearl played violin, and the very active string quartet writing is in his memory.

WTC 9/11 (2010)

(The particular section I reference is from 2:43 to 3:48)

The texts here are the same as Traveler’s Prayer. The first is from Psalm 121 and more or less improvised by the cellist Maya Beiser; the second is from Exodus 23:20, chanted by the late Sherwood Goffin. The music is definitely not the same as in Traveler’s Prayer.

The Cave (1993)

Steve Reich Ensemble/Paul Hillier – Nonesuch records
(I want you to listen from 7:46 to the end)

The very last part of the ending of a very long work. The text, from Genesis is about Abraham offering hospitality to three angels who appear to be  three wandering Arabs in the desert; ‘And he took curds and milk and the calf that was prepared and set these before them, and he stood by them, under the tree as they ate.’