Minimalist pioneer Steve Reich reflects as he approaches his 90th birthday
American composer Steve Reich, who turns 90 on 3 October, looks back on his career in a new interview, discussing a recent premiere at the Edinburgh festival and the origins of his influential minimalist style.
Composer Steve Reich, who turns 90 on 3 October, has already begun marking the milestone, with the world premiere of his new large-ensemble piece "In All Your Ways" at last month's Edinburgh festival and a late-night concert at the BBC Proms.
Born in New York in 1936, Reich has spent six decades producing music that reshaped the soundscape of modern life across Europe and North America. Alongside contemporaries such as Philip Glass, Terry Riley and La Monte Young, he was a pioneer of musical minimalism — a style built on repetitive motifs and driving rhythms that has since influenced contemporary classical music, electronic dance music and film scoring.
Speaking from his home outside New York, Reich revealed he is recovering from a recent fall in which he broke a rib and injured his wrist, complicating his usual practice of composing at the piano. Despite this, he said he has several new sketches under way and expressed gratitude for the celebrations surrounding his birthday, insisting he is far from inactive.
Reich recalled pivotal early influences, describing his teenage encounter with Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" as life-changing, alongside the impact of Johann Sebastian Bach and jazz figures Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. He also described how he discovered his signature "phasing" technique by playing piano against a tape loop, and reflected on landmark works including "Drumming" (1971) and "Music for 18 Musicians" (1976).
The composer acknowledged mixed feelings about some of his orchestral works and about opera as a genre more broadly. Ultimately, he said, his measure of good music is simple: whether it holds up when compared alongside Bach or Parker.
