So yesterday I managed to realize a musical dream I've had since about 1994.
Back then I stumbled onto a piece by the American minimalist composer Steve Reich called "Electric Counterpoint" written for Pat Metheny.
It became one of my favorite pieces for the instrument straight away and I wanted to have a go at it right then and there. The issue was that it's written for 12 guitars and 2 basses (the top guitar part is meant to be played live against the rest of the instruments on tape) and back then it wasn't something I could do with my 4channel tape recorder. Then when I went to music college in NY I got to work with mr. Reich a few times which kept spurring me on to record the piece.
A couple of weeks back I decided now that I have a nice setup at home to record it so I did and finished it up yesterday.
I think it could be worthwhile to describe the piece a little so here's the liner notes Reich wrote himself back in 1987:
Electric Counterpoint is in three movements; fast, slow, fast, played one after the other without pause. The first movement, after an introductory pulsing section where the harmonies of the movement are stated, uses a theme derived from Central African horn music that I became aware of through the ethnomusicologist Simha Arom. That theme is built up in eight voice canon and while the remaining two guitars and bass play pulsing harmonies the soloist plays melodic patterns that result from the contrapuntal interlocking of those eight pre-recorded guitars.
The second movement cuts the tempo in half, changes key and introduces a new theme, which is then slowly built up in nine guitars in canon. Once again two other guitars and bass supply harmony while the soloist brings out melodic patterns that result from the overall contrapuntal web.
The third movement returns to the original tempo and key and introduces a new pattern in triple meter. After building up a four guitar canon two bass guitars enter suddenly to further stress the triple meter. The soloist then introduces a new series of strummed chords that are then built up in three guitar canon. When these are complete the soloist returns to melodic patterns that result from the overall counterpoint when suddenly the basses begin to change both key and meter back and forth between E minor and C minor and between 3/2 and 12/8 so that one hears first 3 groups of 4 eighth notes and then 4 groups of 3 eighth notes. These rhythmic and tonal changes speed up more and more rapidly until at the end the basses slowly fade out and the ambiguities are finally resolved in 12/8 and E minor.
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Basically, it's really droning, pretty sounding music
Recorded with the axefx of course
I hope you like it: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1935590/ElectricCounterpoint.zip
Back then I stumbled onto a piece by the American minimalist composer Steve Reich called "Electric Counterpoint" written for Pat Metheny.
It became one of my favorite pieces for the instrument straight away and I wanted to have a go at it right then and there. The issue was that it's written for 12 guitars and 2 basses (the top guitar part is meant to be played live against the rest of the instruments on tape) and back then it wasn't something I could do with my 4channel tape recorder. Then when I went to music college in NY I got to work with mr. Reich a few times which kept spurring me on to record the piece.
A couple of weeks back I decided now that I have a nice setup at home to record it so I did and finished it up yesterday.
I think it could be worthwhile to describe the piece a little so here's the liner notes Reich wrote himself back in 1987:
Electric Counterpoint is in three movements; fast, slow, fast, played one after the other without pause. The first movement, after an introductory pulsing section where the harmonies of the movement are stated, uses a theme derived from Central African horn music that I became aware of through the ethnomusicologist Simha Arom. That theme is built up in eight voice canon and while the remaining two guitars and bass play pulsing harmonies the soloist plays melodic patterns that result from the contrapuntal interlocking of those eight pre-recorded guitars.
The second movement cuts the tempo in half, changes key and introduces a new theme, which is then slowly built up in nine guitars in canon. Once again two other guitars and bass supply harmony while the soloist brings out melodic patterns that result from the overall contrapuntal web.
The third movement returns to the original tempo and key and introduces a new pattern in triple meter. After building up a four guitar canon two bass guitars enter suddenly to further stress the triple meter. The soloist then introduces a new series of strummed chords that are then built up in three guitar canon. When these are complete the soloist returns to melodic patterns that result from the overall counterpoint when suddenly the basses begin to change both key and meter back and forth between E minor and C minor and between 3/2 and 12/8 so that one hears first 3 groups of 4 eighth notes and then 4 groups of 3 eighth notes. These rhythmic and tonal changes speed up more and more rapidly until at the end the basses slowly fade out and the ambiguities are finally resolved in 12/8 and E minor.
--------------------
Basically, it's really droning, pretty sounding music
Recorded with the axefx of course
I hope you like it: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1935590/ElectricCounterpoint.zip
