Editing Steve Reich (section)

=== 1980s ===
[[File:Steve Reich, composer, cropped.jpg|thumb|Reich circa 1982–1984]]
Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage. ''[[Tehillim (Reich)|Tehillim]]'' (1981), [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] for ''[[psalm]]s'', is the first of Reich's works to draw explicitly on his Jewish background. The work is in four parts, and is scored for an ensemble of four women's voices (one high [[soprano]], two lyric sopranos and one [[alto]]), [[piccolo]], flute, [[oboe]], [[English horn]], two [[clarinet]]s, six percussion (playing small tuned [[tambourine]]s without jingles, clapping, [[maraca]]s, [[marimba]], [[vibraphone]] and [[crotales]]), two [[electronic organ]]s, two violins, [[viola]], cello and double bass, with amplified voices, strings, and winds. A setting of texts from Psalms 19:2–5 (19:1–4 in Christian translations), 34:13–15 (34:12–14), 18:26–27 (18:25–26), and 150:4–6, ''Tehillim'' is a departure from Reich's other work in its formal structure; the setting of texts several lines long rather than the fragments used in previous works makes melody a substantive element. Use of formal [[counterpoint]] and functional [[harmony]] also contrasts with the loosely structured minimalist works written previously. The musicologist Ronit Seter described it as "one of a very few non-Israeli works where the setting of the Hebrew text feels natural", reflecting Reich's extensive research into modern Hebrew-Israeli speech, ancient Psalmic prosody and Jewish cantillation traditions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Seter |first=Ronit |date=2014 |title=Israelism: Nationalism, Orientalism, and the Israeli Five |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/musqtl/gdu010 |journal=Musical Quarterly |volume=97 |issue=2 |pages=244 |doi=10.1093/musqtl/gdu010 |via=Oxford Academic}}</ref>

{{listen|type=music
| filename   = Pat Metheny-Electric Counterpoint III Fast.ogg
| title    = "Electric Counterpoint III Fast" (1989)
| description = 25 seconds of "Electric Counterpoint III Fast" performed by Pat Metheny. From ''Different Trains''/''Electric Counterpoint'' album.
}}
''[[Different Trains]]'' (1988), for [[string quartet]] and tape, uses recorded speech, as in his earlier works, but this time as a melodic rather than a rhythmic element. In ''Different Trains'', Reich compares and contrasts his childhood memories of his train journeys between New York and California in 1939–1941 with the very different trains being used to transport contemporaneous European children to their deaths under [[Nazism|Nazi]] rule. The [[Kronos Quartet]] recording of ''Different Trains'' was awarded the [[Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition]] in 1990. The composition was described by [[Richard Taruskin]] as "the only adequate musical response—one of the few adequate artistic responses in any medium—to [[the Holocaust]]", and he credited the piece with earning Reich a place among the great composers of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4D91F3FF937A1575BC0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |last=Taruskin |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Taruskin |title=A Sturdy Musical Bridge to the 21st Century |work=The New York Times |date=August 24, 1997 |access-date=September 27, 2008}}</ref>