Riley: In C

Terry Riley might not have invented minimalism, but his mesmerizing In C, first performed in San Francisco on November 4, 1964, was certainly its starting gun. Without it, we might not have had the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams. And this album, for many, offers as close to definitive a performance as might be imagined of Riley’s semi-improvised and highly seminal work. In C starts with chiming Cs—hence its title (no surprise to learn that this idea came from Steve Reich, who played electric piano at the work’s premiere)—which continue to ring throughout the performance, even as its harmonies gradually change and move away from C major. It is written as a series of 53 “modules” or brief motifs, with each player instructed to play through them at their own pace, and can be performed by any combination of melodic instruments or voices. Here, the New York-based Bang on a Can uses a rich array of instruments from around the world—among the more recognizable are vibraphone, clarinet, piano, and double bass, and there are several from further afield such as a Chinese pipa. This is very much in the spirit of Riley’s music and the all-embracing philosophy of the man himself, and it’s no surprise that soon the ensemble resounds with harmonies that might be heard from a Balinese gamelan. Indeed, the performance seems to invite us to be transported through whole continents of sound as it dissolves all sense of time and musical boundaries.