In C Remixed

Review The Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble - the band of Michigan undergraduates whose CD of Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" was the surprise new-music hit of 2007 - has struck again. This wonderfully far-ranging CD offers a theme-and-variations take on Terry Riley's minimalist classic "In C," as mixed and reinterpreted by 18 composers and DJs, and the results are fascinating. "In C," it turns out, is capable of being taken in any one of countless directions, from gleaming electronica to aggressive rock-tinged outbursts to cloudy dreamscapes, all while maintaining its recognizable identity. Among the choice selections here are Phil Kline's "In Cognito," awash in the composer's trademark reverberations; David Lang's "Simple Mix," which is anything but; Zoë Keating's sleekly metallic "Zinc"; and my favorite, Jad Abumrad's "Counting in C," which mixes in samples of baby talk to elicit the previously undetected nursery song lurking in Riley's opus. There's a handsome, though rather abridged, performance of a standard "In C" at the end, so that folks can hear what's going on. -- San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Kosman, January 2010 Along with Steve Reich's equally definitive "Music for 18 Musicians" (1976), "In C" is one of minimalism's most often-covered compositions, and so it's no surprise that, following its successful look at Reich's classic--Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians (Innova, 2008)--Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble (GVSUNME) and its director, Bill Ryan, have chosen to tackle Riley's enduring work. But instead of simply aspiring to deliver a unique look at "In C"--and, with a 17-piece ensemble weighted heavily on percussion instruments but also featuring less common ones including guitar and accordion, unique it is--Ryan also approached 18 other artists to provide remixes of GVSUNME's version which, at just under 21 minutes, is most certainly the shortest performance ever recorded. The result is a packed double-disc set with 18 remixes ranging from the relatively reverent to the outrageously reinvented; with the addition of modern technology, it's also a seamless migration of Riley's groundbreaking concept into the vaster sonic potential of music in the new millennium. Another unique aspect to the recording is that, while it might make logical sense to place the GVSUNME version of "In C" up front, followed