Minimal music has long since grown apart from the eponymous American movement of the sixties. During this period artists experimented with the extreme reduction of material in their works, thus provoking a new manner of listening and looking. The restrictions that they imposed upon themselves resulted in a wealth of new forms, colours and rhythms – and often provided a window into unknown Asian and African art traditions. Minimalist of the first hour Steve Reich has constantly revised his manner of working during the past decades; however, he remains true to his clear and compact style involving repeated motifs. Likewise inTehillim from 1981, a ‘psalm symphony’ at times verging on the pop idiom and the first work in which he displays his lyrical talent. Reich’s work, strongly influenced by repetitive music from Africa, is performed here in the context of arrangements of music from Cameroon and new Dutch and American compositions.

Artists

JULIA WOLFE 
Combat de boxe (world première) (film by Charles Dekeukeleire)
JOEY ROUKENS 
Scenes from an Old Memory Box  (world première)
Flûtes des monts Mandara – arr. of music from Kameroen by Arnold Marinissen
STEVE REICH 
Tehillim

ASKO|SCHÖNBERG 
SYNERGY VOCALS
concuctor
Clark Rundell