Two weeks ago, Columbia University announced Steve Reich as the
winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Double
Sextet—blandly described by the jury as “a major work that
displays an ability to channel an initial burst of energy into a
large-scale musical event, built with masterful control and
consistently intriguing to the ear.”
Many important 20th-century works—Stravinsky’s Rite of
Spring, the “Collages” symphony of Roberto Gerhard, Annea
Lockwood’s Sound Map of the Hudson River—could
share that description.
Judging from a live recording of the premiere, Double Sextet continues Reich’s recent return to the interlocking textures of his
classic 1970s pieces, tempered with a trenchant rhythmic vigor
reminiscent of the British composer (and Reich admirer) Steve Martland;
slow sections exert a gravitational pull toward a somber, sometimes
haunted, lyricism. But the work, however fine, is not the
point.
Nor is the prize money: The Pulitzer’s $10,000 award is strictly
third-tier, ranking with fellowships such as those from the Washington
State Arts Commission ($7,500) or, say, the Illinois Arts Council
($7,000). Nonprofit foundations up the ante: United States Artists
($50,000), the Alpert Award ($75,000), the Polar Music Prize
(approximately $150,000 in Swedish krona, which Reich won in 2007), and
the Grawemeyer ($200,000). And the Mac-Arthur Fellowship, which bestows
$500,000 in “no strings attached” support for five years, remains the
ne plus ultra.
The 2009 Pulitzer represents the continual stylistic widening of a
winner’s circle once dominated by what student composers decades ago
called “uptown serialists.” But the prize should have come
sooner for any of these singular and stunning pieces in Reich’s
catalog: Piano Phase (1967), Drumming (1970–71),
Music for 18 Musicians (1974–76), Tehillim (1981)/The Desert Music (1984), and Different Trains (1988).
Ex-Seattle composer Steve Layton hit the nail on the head in the
Sequenza 21 blog: “Like so many other times, if the Pulitzer board had
given it to him 20 or 30 years ago, it might have been important for
Reich, modern music, and the Pulitzer itself. These delayed calls reek
of the ol’ Oscar ‘lifetime achievement’ award. Bully for Steve,
bollocks on the Pulitzer and its process.”
The Pulitzer will matter again when it consistently rewards new
risk-takers rather than persists as a predictable, valedictory award
for those we already know and love.
Hear Double Sextet at www.tinyurl.com/cpghym.
•••
This week I’m looking forward to Seattle composer Marcus
Oldham‘s retrospective (Sat May 9, Chapel Performance Space, 8 pm,
$5–$15). Also, trumpeter Thomas Marriott celebrates (Tues
May 12, Triple Door, 7:30 pm, $15) the release of his new disc,
Flexicon (Origin). And the Seattle Occultural Music
Festival presents a night of avant electronics (Fri May 8,
Rendezvous, 10 pm, $5–$15) with Joy Von Spain, Matt
Shoemaker, and Voodoo Israel, whose “playground and trolly,
part 2″ blends field recordings and a homemade “Pulse” section from
Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. See www.somf.info for a full schedule.
