VOA标准英语2011--At 75, Seminal US Composer Still Inspires

At 75, Seminal¹ US Composer Still Inspires

 

American composer Steve Reich turned 75 this year. The so-called “minimalist” credits jazz, African drumming and Balinese gamelan as inspirations.

His music - from experimental tape loops to the Pulitzer prize-winning “Double Sextet” - has, in turn, inspired other composers.

In the early 1960s, when Reich was at the beginning of his career, the contemporary classical music scene was dominated by atonal² music.

"It fell to my generation to basically say, 'Basta. Enough.' to music which you could not tap your foot to," Reich says, "to music to which you could not possibly walk out humming anything, and music which had no harmonic center."

Reich was studying composition at Mills College in California, a hotbed of avant-garde creativity. Experimenting with lengths of audio tape, he spliced³ them together to form a loop and put them on a tape player so they would continuously run over and over again.

Reich went to San Francisco’s Union Square and recorded a charismatic street preacher, whose sermon hovered⁴ between speech and song.

US composer Steve Reich, who turns 75 this year, continues to inspire a new generation of musicians.

"As he said, 'It’s gonna rain,' a pigeon took off," Reich says. "So you had a pigeon drummer and this incredible voice and sort of low traffic in the background. Well, I thought, 'Oh, wouldn’t it be great if it were two loops, and they were going, ‘it’s gonna, it’s gonna, it’s gonna rain rain rain rain,’ and the pigeon would just be drumming away.”

According to Tim Page, professor of journalism⁵ and music at the University of Southern California, Reich's work was the opposite of what was going on at the time.

"It was very repetitive, it was very quote-unquote tonal. And it had a very steady pulse," Page says. "So it was pretty much setting pretty much all the traditional modernisms that were in fashion in the 70s on their head. For a lot of us, hearing his music was literally⁶ a life-changer."

One of those whose life was changed after hearing compositions by Reich was fellow composer David Lang. He first heard "Its Gonna Rain" on an album he came across at the record store where he worked.

"I had never been prepared to hear anything like this," Lang recalls. "It didn’t have a melody; it didn’t have harmony - at least the way I had been prepared to understand it. It didn’t have a way of progressing. And I remember thinking, 'This is the coolest thing I ever heard in my life.' I was 17 years old."

Reich became influential⁷, and not just for classical musicians. Rockers like Brian Eno and David Bowie, as well as hip-hop artists, all owe something to him.

Younger rock musicians - like guitarist Bryce Dessner with the band, The National - are also interested in Reich's music. "For a lot of musicians like myself, I think Steve Reich’s appeal is quite broad, and, in a way, just to open this big space for musicians to move in."

Dessner is also a classical guitarist and composer. He says The National enjoys a daily connection to Reich’s music. Drummer Brian Devendorf is obsessed⁸ with the composition “Clapping Music.”

"He plays it every night before the show. He'll play it for an hour to warm up, and it’s kind of fun. It's like this constant pattern looping through our heads before we go out on stage, is Steve Reich’s "Clapping Music" as played by Brian."

But it’s not just Reich’s past that intrigues⁹ fans.

"One of the things that’s really sort of extraordinary about Steve Reich is that he’s 75 and yet he’s still somebody to whom everybody looks with great interest to see what he’ll do next," says Page. "And that’s a rarity."

Reich himself is still looking forward, even after celebrating his 75th birthday.

"That young musicians around the world want to and actually do play my music very well and to go around and hear that, in reality, is the best present a composer could ask for."

Concerts and festivals celebrating the composer's 75th birthday continue through the year in North America, Europe and Australia.

1 seminal   

adj.影响深远的；种子的

参考例句：

• The reforms have been a seminal event in the history of the NHS.这些改革已成为英国国民保健制度史上影响深远的一件大事。
• The emperor's importance as a seminal figure of history won't be diminished.做为一个开创性历史人物的重要性是不会减弱的。

2 atonal   

adj.无调的

参考例句：

• The majority always turn an unfavorable attitude towards atonal composition.大多数人对无调性作品的态度往往是不能接受的。
• People did not accept atonal music at that time.那时，人们还不接受无调性音乐。

3 spliced   

adj.（针织品）加固的n.叠接v.绞接( splice的过去式和过去分词 )；捻接（两段绳子）；胶接；粘接（胶片、磁带等）

参考例句：

• He spliced the two lengths of film together. 他把两段胶卷粘接起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Have you heard?John's just got spliced. 听说了吗？约翰刚结了婚。 来自辞典例句

4 hovered   

鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovered over the hill. 一只鹰在小山的上空翱翔。
• A hawk hovered in the blue sky. 一只老鹰在蓝色的天空中翱翔。

5 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

8 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

9 intrigues   

n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• He was made king as a result of various intrigues. 由于搞了各种各样的阴谋，他当上了国王。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Those who go in for intrigues and conspiracy are doomed to failure. 搞阴谋诡计的人注定要失败。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》