Terry Riley’s work deeply affected the course of music in the late 20th Century. Works like In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air opened up new worlds for many listeners and musicians. And a week when this country has been described as an ‘Island of Strangers’ seemed a perfect time to celebrate Riley’s unifying music at The Barbican.
Riley, whose 90th Birthday will fall on 24 June, appeared on large screens either side of the stage at the start, beamed in from Japan, where he has lived and worked since the Pandemic. His voice gently introduced the concert, then appeared again amid the music too.
The first half of the performance was devoted to ‘A Rainbow in Curved Air’. The original – with its use of looped playback influenced by Bill Evans’ overdubbing of piano tracks on Conversations with Myself, but taken much further by Riley – still sounds fresh and extraordinary. We heard a new interpretation by the American ensemble Bang on a Can All stars arranged by the composer’s son Gyan Riley . The All Stars have recorded Riley’s music in the past, especially a celebrated version of ‘Composition in C’ which made the top 10 albums in both classical and pop in the US, and have performed with Philip Glass, Meredith Monk and Don Byron among others.
The piece was tightly improvised, with elements of northern Indian Hindustani music ( a great influence on Riley) in particular Pandit Pran Nath, and some musical forms from other countries. I could also detect similarities to bands especially The Who, whose Baba O’Riley was named in honour of Riley, King Crimson and Soft Machine. My highlight was a lovely sensitive section where the music quietened right down to just the cello of Arlen Hlusko and double bass of Robert Lightcap both of whom had a pivotal and guiding presence throughout the evening. This quiet passage reminded me of ‘White Man Sleeps’, a piece by Kevan Volans recorded by the Kronos Quartet, who also work extensively with Riley’s music.There were large crescendos too and intense swirling solos on clarinet by Ken Thomson and angular chords on guitar by Taylor Levin.
Most of all (and even more so in the second half) the instrumentation started to make you listen more deeply, and the composition appeared balanced and organic. I found myself thinking of minimalist abstract painters I’ve seen work by recently, like Robert Ryman (also a Jazz musician ) and the wonderful colour of Mark Rothko, where what first appears like a white or plain coloured surface reveals textures and movements within as you look further. You start to get absorbed by the paint. Here the painting was the concentrations and juxtapositions of sound.
The real excitement though and what made this evening’s performance sing, came after the interval. Riley’s composition In C is one of the pivotal moments in the formation of minimalist music. Here the ensemble expanded to include special guests including SHABAKA (with flutes), Soumik Datta on Sarod, brilliant Tabla player Gurdain Singh Rayatt, multi-faceted percussionist Valentina Magaletti, multi instrumentalist Raven Bush, guitarist Adrian Utley and saxophonist Jack Wyllie – an overwhelming musically disparate yet collective force. Just the concept of these musicians playing In C for an hour seemed a profound and moving statement of the collective collaborative power of music.
What unfolded was very beautiful, and reminded me of Tibetan Buddhist practice of “five senses meditation”, where one slowly tunes in and out of each sense. Each musician listened intensely. I thought at times of the sound of rain on a roof, or forest woodland sounds, becoming aware particularly of textures conjured by the different instruments.
SHABAKA, at times playing a beautiful white wooden flute, brought a special sensitivity and his microtonal shifts seemed to subtly add extra urgency and surprise. Then to the fingers on the tabla and the gentle smile of the cellist, the movement of the flutes, the constancy and elegant concentration of the pianist, the gentle gliding sound of the sarod and the music reminding me of the choreography of Anna Halprin, a dance with a ceremony of slight and subtle gestures .
Recently I’ve been looking at contemplative pioneering visual music films by James Whitney and Jordan Belson produced around the same time as this composition was conceived. I couldn’t help thinking of their connection, and the subtle, absorbing and meditative way their animated works evolve.
When the music disappeared there was a unanimous standing ovation. We had all been absorbed and had taken part in something collective and as in meditation practice, or sometimes when looking at a great painting in a gallery, lost ourselves and all sense of time. The evening was a gently reverential, moving yet also energising celebration of this great, innovative and important composer.
Programme:
A Rainbow in Curved Air – Bang on a Can All Stars
In C – Bang on a Can All Stars and guests
Performers:
Bang on a Can All-Stars: Vicky Chow, David Cossin, Arlen Hlusko, Mark Stewart, Ken Thomson, Andrew Cotton
SHABAKA flutes
Valentina Magaletti percussion
Adrian Utley guitar
Jack Wyllie saxophone
Soumik Datta sarod
Gurdain Singh Rayatt tabla
Raven Bush violin
Mark Rowan-Hull is a British synaesthete performance and visual artist.
