Steve Reich: The Quartets
Mivos Quartet are in residence at EMPAC to record Steve Reich’s three string quartets Different Trains, Triple Quartet, and WTC 9/11.
As long-time collaborators with Reich, Mivos Quartet is the first group to record and release all three quartets on a single album. Each of his quartets has one or two layers of quartet parts that must be pre- recorded. Mivos is working closely with Reich to re-record all of the backing tracks as well as the live quartet parts for an album that can serve as the definitive recording of these works.
Proclaimed by many as America's greatest living composer, Steve Reich is a musical icon. His body of work has largely defined a genre of modern music, which in turn has become one of the defining schools of American musical style. Reich’s three string quartets are modern masterpieces in string writing, pioneering his technique of interweaving field recordings and speech patterns into the fabric of the acoustic and electronic elements of the compositions.
EMPAC 2020–22
EMPAC Spring 2020 presentations, residencies, and commissions are made possible by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; and Vlaamse Gemeenschap, department of Culture, Youth, and Media.