Steve Reich's latest album, WTC 9/11, is out next Tuesday. The composer's 75th birthday follows less than two weeks later, on October 3, and the celebrations abound. He is the subject of a special feature on iTunes titled The World of Steve Reich, part of a series that explores every facet of an iconic musician’s career—their roots, their catalog, and other artists they have influenced. Included are six multi-artist compilations, a best-of colleciton, and a sale on Reich's catalog. "We're speaking of the impact of an artist who has changed music as we know it," says iTunes, "and maybe even more importantly, as we will know it."
Steve Reich's latest album, WTC 9/11, is out on Nonesuch Records next Tuesday, September 20. What's more, the composer's 75th birthday follows less than two weeks later, on October 3, and the celebrations abound. The composer, who is currently in Kraków, Poland, for the week-long Sacrum Profanum festival showcasing his music, is the subject of a special feature on iTunes titled The World of Steve Reich. The program is the latest in the larger "World of" series on iTunes, which explores every facet of an iconic musician’s career—their roots, their catalog, and the other artists they have influenced. To coincide with the launch of the series, Steve Reich's catalog is now on sale in the iTunes Store, where the new album is also available to pre-order.
"Allow us to shatter your most fervently held preconceptions about classical music," says iTunes in its introduction to the World of feature. "Or, put another way, meet Steve Reich, who is not only, arguably, our most important living classical composer, but who has also redefined the very notion of what it means to be a classical composer." The piece concludes: "We're speaking of the impact of an artist who has changed music as we know it ... and maybe even more importantly, as we will know it."
In addition to Reich's catalog, which is now on sale, The World of Steve Reich at iTunes features a "best-of" Reich collection plus six distinct multi-artist compilations:
- Steve Reich: iTunes Essentials, a multi-tiered ("The Basics," "Next Steps," "Deep Cuts"), 45-track collection of pieces chosen from the breadth of the composer's catalog, from 1965's It's Gonna Rain to last year's recording of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet
- Roots & Influences, which includes everything from Stravinsky to Coltrane to Balinese gamelan
- Similar Sounds, highlighting Reich's fellow contemporary composers like Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley, and Arvo Pärt
- Legacy, which showcases how far Reich's influenced has reached, from Laurie Anderson to David Byrne to Four Tet to Sufjan Stevens
- Minimalists, which pairs Reich's work with that of his fellow 20th and 21st-century musical pioneers, like John Adams, Henryk Górecki, and Philip Glass
- Performance Pieces, a 15-track collection of Reich works first performed outside traditional concert halls, in venues such as art galleries and dance studios, by the likes of Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny, and the composer himself
- Interpretations, which puts the focus on the forward-thinking musicians who've brought Reich's music to life, including Kronos, Bang On a Can, The Orb, and Sonic Youth
To experience The World of Steve Reich at iTunes, click here. To take advantage of the sale on the composer's catalog at iTunes, click here.
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