Review
Music Reviews
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Sixty years ago, Terry Riley's pioneering composition "In C" premiered in San Francisco. The event helped launch a style of music later called minimalism. A major label recording of "In C" four years later helped enshrine the work as a classic.
(SOUNDBITE OF TERRY RILEY AND MEMBERS OF THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS AT SUNY BUFFALO PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
SHAPIRO: There have been many recordings of "In C" since this one, but a new version featuring cellist Maya Beiser has caught the ear of our reviewer, NPR's Tom Huizenga.
TOM HUIZENGA, BYLINE: Armed with just her cello, a looping machine and a pair of percussionists, Maya Beiser puts her own stamp on "In C" that is by turns mesmerizing and graceful, like when she unspools long, flowing lines above thrumming beats.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
HUIZENGA: Before we go too far, I'd better tell you how "In C" is built. Its blueprint contains 53 musical riffs, you might call them - little modules that performers can play in order but at their discretion. It all starts with a pulse. Now, normally, the piece is played by at least a dozen or more performers. Beiser takes it on only with stacks of her cello loops and drummers Shane Shanahan and Matt Kilmer. Here's their opening pulse, 120 beats a minute. Hear it? (Imitating drum beat).
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
HUIZENGA: It's easy to cherry-pick little samples on this album, but that's not the best way to listen. It's more rewarding to surrender to large swaths of the music. That way, you can either zone out in a meditative state or zoom in as if gazing at a Escher drawing or a Persian carpet to discover fresh, hidden patterns. Here's one that morphs right before your ears.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
HUIZENGA: The foundation for Beiser's rendition is the droning, low C string of her cello. The metallic twang of the string careens off drumbeats early on in the piece, one of many danceable moments.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
HUIZENGA: Less turns out to be more here. By limiting the instrumentation to only cello loops and drums, Beiser increases transparency, and the result leaves room for something many performances of "In C" don't offer - supremely exhilarating grooves.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
HUIZENGA: A third of the way through Beiser's "In C," something surprising emerges - the sound of vocals, proof that there is a human behind all of the electronics.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
MAYA BEISER: (Vocalizing).
HUIZENGA: Beiser's husky chuffs intertwine with each other and the cello to create a hiccup effect called hearkening that dates back to medieval times.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
BEISER: (Vocalizing).
HUIZENGA: Maya Beiser's musical journey is one of mind and body and offers other engaging stopovers from an oasis of calm to Led Zeppelin-like headbanging. So if you have a spare hour to let this singular, hypnotic music wash over you, the world might just seem a little brighter.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
SHAPIRO: The album is "Terry Riley In C" by Maya Beiser. Our reviewer is NPR's Tom Huizenga.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAYA BEISER PERFORMANCE OF RILEY'S "IN C")
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