The Mythical

That nice Stuart Maconie played Drumming by Steve Reich last night – well a bit of it – it is longer than an hour. You will have read my rants about how wonderful Music for 18 Musicians is. Well, this is nothing to what I feel about Drumming. The only reason it has not been reviewed is that I cannot find it in the Tardis-like caverns of the garage. If you have heard MF18M and didn’t like it, then do not go near Drumming. It starts with an unvarying drum pattern of devastating simplicity and catchiness which after a while begins to introduce other instruments all playing the same rhythm over and over, each one higher up the scale until it is just Glockenspiel. There is some mucking about with subtraction and addition of various notes but that is about it. Most of it isn’t actually drumming but the pattern is there all through. It will drive you mad or lift you to paradise. I will have to dig it out.