1. In C 42:01
Terry Riley - Saxophone
Margaret Hassell - Piano
Darlene Reynard - Bassoon
Jerry Kirkbride - Clarinet
David Rosenboom - Viola
Edward Burnham - Vibraphone
Lawrence Singer - Oboe
Jon Hassell - Trumpet
David Shostac - Flute
Stuart Dempster - Trombone
Jan Williams - Marimbaphone
AMG:
"After creating several graphically notated and pattern-based works for jazz ensembles in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Terry Riley developed a new type of pattern music strongly influenced by gamelan music and the classical traditions of India. In C, the composer's best-known work, is both the purest example of this phase of Riley's musical development and a landmark of the minimalist aesthetic.
The one-page score, which calls for any ensemble of pitched instruments, consists of 53 discrete, concentrated gestures - sometimes as small as a two-note motive - of varying lengths. The players enter independently, moving gradually through this progression of cells; each cell may (and should) be repeated indefinitely and independently of the other players. The result is that the interlocking of patterns, the evolution of texture, density, and sonority, and the work's duration are all unique to each performance. The work's main unifying element is a metronomic pulse on the pitch C, normally played in octaves in the highest register of a piano, which provides a fixed tempo and tonal center. Because of its inherent instrumental flexibility, In C has been performed in a countless variety of configurations, from conventional chamber groups to massed keyboards and percussion to an ensemble of Chinese instruments.
In C is significant for its deconstruction of the European classical tradition, accomplished partly through its harmonic and tonal stasis, partly through its lack of hierarchical development. Further, the work emphasizes the importance of the ensemble (group) over the virtuoso (individual), granting each player an autonomous though guided role in creating the work anew each time it is performed.
Terry Riley would certainly bristle at the idea of there being a 'definitive' version of In C since it was created with the intention of having an infinite number of interpretive possibilities, but this version, a reissue of the original Columbia recording, led by the composer, has a certain authority since it was the means by which the piece was introduced to a broad public and it paved the way for the biggest revolution in classical composition in the second half of the twentieth century. It has the hallmarks that came to define musical minimalism: triadic harmony, a slow rate of harmonic change, a steady pulse, and the use of repetitive patterns. In this performance, it has a shiny, almost metallic brightness and a visceral energy that immediately set it apart from the intellectually rigorous and austere trends in the new music establishment of the 1960s. The performance, by members of the Center of the Creative and Performing Arts of SUNY Buffalo, is disciplined, staying within the parameters Riley prescribes, but is also freely inventive, taking advantage of the opportunities Riley gives the performers for creative self-expression. The result sounds spontaneous but assured, never chaotic or capricious. The ensemble understood and had rehearsed the piece thoroughly, performing it at Carnegie Hall not long before this recording was made in 1968, when the piece was already four years old. For listeners with a sympathy for minimalism, the energy of this performance can be a wild and exhilarating ride, and it will be a nostalgic trip for anyone who knew it in its earlier incarnations on LP or cassette tape. The original tape has been remastered by Bob Ludwig and has all the vitality and clarity of a spanking new recording."
In C
Scans