Timeless modern classical masterpiece. Though originally debuted in 1976, this 1998 recording was released on CD and earned a Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance and has now been mastered for vinyl by Robert C. Ludwig. Reich based the piece on a cycle of eleven chords, composing small pieces of music based on each chord. The pieces are named Pulses and an unplugged vibraphone is used the cue the ensemble to move to the next Pulse. It was Reich's first attempt to write for a large ensemble and the additional players resulted in more psycho-acoustic effects than Reich's earlier work. David Bowie included the record in his list of 25 favorite albums, calling it "Balinese gamelan music cross-dressing as minimalism." Released by Nonesuch on double vinyl housed in a full color sleeve with a printed insert containing detailed liner notes from K. Robert Schwarz.

• double vinyl pressing
• printed insert
• music label: Nonesuch 2018

reviewed by Berk Lee 08/2018