November 4, 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the premiere of Terry Riley’s seminal masterpiece “In C.” After a variety of venerable compositional endeavors, Terry Riley (1935-) was inspired by his muse to write this defining work that charts a path away from the composer’s formal education. A completely different path to the Western classical model. It premiered in an unconventional house in San Francisco rather than in an auditorium designed for concerts. It is one of the works that now marks the transition from almost purely experimental writing to the style that came to be known as “Minimalism” (although many composers whose music has been classified under this rubric have, to varying degrees, eschewed it ). Whether you call it minimalism, psychedelia, drone, etc., this style would dominate a large portion of concert productions and recordings.
The score consists of 53 short phrases, with no designated instruments and no conductor’s score, just a set of deceptively simple instructions. One page is what one might expect of a sketch of a larger work, not a full score, but that’s it, one page with instructions for the musician to arbitrarily repeat each unit or phrase before moving on to the next. Ostensibly a suggestion from composer/performer Steve Reich, the pianist played the eighth notes of the first two highest octaves repeatedly on the keyboard. In addition to this “click track”-like strategy, playing of those high “C’s” can also serve to anchor tones, much like the continua does in quasi-improvisational Baroque practice.
There is no better explanation and analysis of this music than Robert Carr’s “In C.” Robert Carl (1954- ) is a teacher, composer, performer and musicologist. I don’t want to engage in an extensive analysis like his, but I am interested in providing a celebratory perspective from where I sit (and have sat).
This music (like all art) is situated within the context of contemporaneous and recent events surrounding its conception and performance. For the moment it ranks with other famous works of 1964: Witold Lutoslawski – String Quartet, John Coltrane (acknowledged as one of Riley’s influences) – Album, “Bessie’s Blues” and “Lonnie’s Lament”, Igor Stravinsky – Kennedy Elegy and Variations in memory of Aldous Huxley (both died on November 23, 1963), Roger Sessions – Symphony No. 5 and his opera “Montezuma”, Milton Babbitt – Phil Lommel, Karlheinz Stockhausen-Mister, Ben Johnston – Microtonal Piano Sonata, Luciano Berio – Ballads (composed and premiered at Mills College, Mills The Academy later became home to the Center for Tape Music where Berio taught at the time), Olivier Messiaen – Et Expecto Ressurectionem Mortuorum, Iannis Xenakis – Eonta and La Monte Young – (the no. one iteration), a well-tuned piano.
The small list I’ve included here is just a sample of the Western classical and jazz compositions that graced “In C”‘s birth year. Granted, it’s a cornucopia of some more experimental and some less experimental music in this historical trajectory. However, among the works on this list, the works of John Coltrane and La Monte Young share a common musical DNA with Riley’s musical aesthetic. The other contemporary works mentioned represent a kind of “garden of forking paths” in a style very different from the work at hand.
At that time, the American pop music style had just met the Beatles, and this work was a combination of experiments by Lamont Young, Steve Reich and others. “In C” seems to be fully formed. It seems to be influenced by pop, jazz, and blues music (which commonly use repetition). Sixty years later, the work has been performed frequently and there are at least 40 recordings.
As I began writing this article, I realized that Robert Carr’s book on this work completely covered the history and provided a clear analysis to which I could make no additional useful contribution. I then considered soliciting reviews of this music from musicians and listeners, but found little interest as this had been covered well by several previous anniversary articles. So I decided to share some of the discography and photos I could find that gave me a deeper understanding of this touchstone work.
This record is by no means comprehensive, but my intention was to celebrate this anniversary with the cover artwork that adorns the ever-growing list of records from this Western art music landmark. I’ll be showing over 40 versions that I think are representative.
The humble author was only 8 years old when this work premiered. I first heard “In C” in 1976, when my local radio station, Chicago’s great WFMT, aired a song by composer and DePaul University music professor Raymond Wilding-White. Wilding-White). His mission is to present representative works of American music as each day marks the nation’s Bicentennial. “in C” is one of them.
Since then I have heard many interpretations of this work. The original show took place on November 4, 1964 at 321 Divisadero Street in San Francisco, California. , Tony Martin, William Maginnis and Ramon Sender (who celebrated his 90th birthday last week). The venue was the second and final home of the San Francisco Tape Music Center before it moved to Oakland in 1966 and was renamed the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music.
Here are some short reviews, some of my favorites. According to the Wikipedia article there are at least 38 versions. Here are my personal favorites in order of release date:
If you only have one recording, this may be what you want. Recorded in 1968, the work was effectively brought to a wide audience through international distribution. Instruments (some voiced) include: saxophone, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, clarinet, flute, viola, trombone, vibraphone, marimba.
This important recording was made in China during the Tiananmen Square uprising, and the tapes were actually smuggled out of the country after the event. It is a wonderful document of the encounter and interpretation of this masterpiece by Eastern musicians.
Don’t you just love anniversaries? By the time of this edition (1989), the work had spread to a wide range of geographical areas and cultures. This edition includes many of the musicians who premiered the work, and this “traditional” reading is a loving tribute to Riley’s work.
Bang on a Can All Stars are one of the best ambassadors for new music. They have earned the right to put their own stamp on any new work they choose and subsequently bring it back to the next generation of listeners.
If you want to hear the many musicians who chose to pay homage to this work, this is a great place to start.
Another great example of this work from a Central African perspective. This performance from Mali was absolutely mind-blowing.
The album is a personal favorite of the Brooklyn collective and features Hindustani traditional instruments as well as other Western instruments. You can read my enthusiastic review here .
There are probably at least 50 recordings of this work. Some are private and may even be pirated versions. Clearly, the work went on to become an increasingly important and influential piece of music. It’s not unlike the musical version of the iconic monolith from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. This unusual structure is of extraterrestrial origin and is said to accelerate the evolution of species that encounter it.
Riley’s work undoubtedly came from the land (well, San Francisco, anyway), but it’s clear that the work continues to fascinate musicians around the world and arguably influenced the development of music itself.
