New composer-blogger Paul Bailey describes the premiere of Steve Reich's big new choral piece You Are (Variations) in Los Angeles. Argh, I wish I could have heard this. Meanwhile, up in Bagdad by the Bay, The Standing Room gives a thumbs down to Alan Gilbert's performance of Naive and Sentimental Music at the San Francisco Symphony, while Josh Kosman gives it a thumbs up. Read either piece for a discerning appreciation of Adams' symphonic tour-de-force.
Here are the texts that Reich set in You Are:
Rabbi Nachman of Breslov: "You are wherever your thoughts are."
Psalm 16: "I place the Eternal before me."
Ludwig Wittgenstein: "Explanations come to an end somewhere."
Rabbi Shammai: "Say little and do much."
