Music for Ensemble and Orchestra

Program notes

About the Work

Music for Ensemble and Orchestra (2018) was Reich’s first orchestral work in more than thirty years, and it makes a fitting climax to a birthday celebration. Reich calls it an extension of the Baroque concerto grosso, where more than one soloist is set against the full orchestra. Here the ‘soloists’ are twenty regular members of the orchestra itself (the first-desk strings and winds, plus two pianos and two vibraphones), who weave their interlocking patterns against the larger body. The Los Angeles Philharmonic gave the premiere in November 2018 under tonight’s conductor, Susanna Mälkki, and she also conducted its first recording.

What to Listen For

Listen for the interplay between the small group of soloists and the full orchestra: patterns passed back and forth, the soloists’ rapid interlocking figures set against sustained orchestral harmonies. The work is in five connected movements, with a clever twist. In Reich’s words, “the tempo never changes, only the note value of the constant pulse in the pianos”: sixteenths, then eighths, then quarters, then back again. So the music seems to slow down and speed up while the underlying beat stays the same. Listen for that arch of gathering and releasing momentum, and for the bright, joyous, propulsive energy that has made Reich, at 90, one of the most beloved composers alive.