Ictus Ensemble

Steve Reich’s Drumming (1971) is one of the most important pieces of minimal music of the early 1970s. It represents both a high point and a turning point in the work of the man who is regarded as probably the single most important proponent of the genre. Steve Reich was inspired to write this work for a percussion ensemble after becoming acquainted with the music of the Ewe tribe and Ewe master drummer Gideon Alorworye during a study trip to Ghana -- an experience that affirmed his preference for percussion instruments. Here he noticed the particular strength of acoustic instruments in contrast to purely electronic sounds. Drumming was created at the same time as he was setting up his ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians. Yet it is also one of the last compositions in which he exploited his “phase shifting” technique. He had used this for the first time on his tape recorder piece It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and went on a little later to adopt this technique in instrumental works. The basic principle is the simultaneous playing of the same musical patterns at slightly different speeds. Steve Reich also worked with the successive construction and deconstruction, or reduction, of structures. One of the particular features of Drumming is the use of human voices that imitate the sound of percussion instruments. In this four-part masterpiece, interpreted by the Ictus Ensemble, you first hear bongos, which are successively combined with marimbas and voices, then glockenspiels, a piccolo flute, and whistling until the entire ensemble joins in.