Steve Reich (b. 1936): “Proverb” on a text by Ludwig Wittgenstein from the book “Culture and Value” (1946)
8:37 = Prolation (augmentation) canon with time shifting among the three sopranos beginning in measure 384
From the program notes:
The piece opens with “the three sopranos sing[ing] the original melody of the text in canons that gradually augment, or get longer. The two tenors sing duets, or commentaries, in shorter rhythmic values against held tones from the sopranos. The two electric organs double the singers throughout and further fill in the harmonies. The constantly changing meter groupings of twos and threes give a rhythmically freeing quality to the voices. After about three minutes of just voices and organ, the vibraphones enter enunciating these interlocking shifting groups of twos and threes.”
At the midpoint of the piece, “the original theme in the voices is then inverted, and moves from B-minor to Eb-minor. In this contrasting section, the original descending melodic line becomes an ascending one. The last part of this piece is one large augmented canon for the sopranos and baritone, returning to the original key of B-minor, with the tenors singing their melismatic duets continuously as the canon slowly unfolds around them. This is concluded by a short coda which ends with a single soprano.”
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Text (Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1946):
“How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life!”