Steve Reich, Music for Eighteen Musicians - Synergy Vocals - Ensemble intercontemporain 

I'm going to contact my House Representative to draft a bill making it illegal to ever play a commercial through M418M on youtube.

The Marimba Player who's playing constantly on the offbeat has probably the most difficult Job in the Ensemble, seriously… Incredible Performance!!!

Cette œuvre pourrait servir de cadeau de bienvenue à la première puissance extraterrestre intelligente venue nous visiter. Elle témoignerait du génie humain…

Such an important piece of music artistically, philosophically. Collaborative, inclusive, communal, beautiful. Somewhere in this music lies a map for a better way of living, being.

I'm highly impressed by Synergy Vocals. They really blend their voices exceedingly well with the clarinets and strings (and mallets). I hate it when other singers try to make the piece about them. These singers understand Reich's idea about voices and instruments doubling each other.

This is what absolute perfection sounds like. Outstanding performance of a minimalist masterpiece.

This is my first time hearing something with so much complexity and harmony all in one. Collectively the sounds and tones blend together to create a purely unique feeling within me. I've never felt such a feeling of amazement and awe from sounds and rhythms. This is simply incredible.

This is the coolest thing on the internet for all time.

I think this is Reich's masterpiece-just beautiful

Boulez's ensemble playing minimalist music! Great!

Love how the violinist holds her bow over the violin at the end, holding a moment of silence at the end of the piece. Brilliant. Perfect ending.

I've listened to every performance of this masterpiece on utube and this is BY FAR THE BEST! Perfect.

"Music is another place" Phillip Glass. Steve Reich knows that place too and invites us there with this piece. See you there 😊

I love this so much I use it to listen to while I fall asleep.

Minimalism is marmite. Yet, observing this performance, I marvel at the skill and CONCENTRATION required - while a listener can just sit back and 'enjoy' the passing moods.

The silence at the end is just magic

diese wundersschöne musik gehört zu meinen favoriten, die ich immer wieder geniesse ... sie zieht mich..wie ein FLUSS ...hinein... in die Reise nach innen und gleichzeitig aussen... DANKE MEISTER STEVE REICH:

CETTE œuvre est d'une richesse telle qu'à chaque nouvelle écoute, je la redécouvre comme si c'était la première fois. UN des bons signes de cette création est que malgré les nombreuses écoutes, aussi par différents groupes ou pas, est que je n'arrive pas à saisir, ou comprendre cette poétique. C'est bon signe pour ma stimulation, elle reste intarissable. Merci. C'est celà la vraie amitié, où toute personne n'est riche tant par ses capacités à digérer sainement les multiples altérités qui l'entourent, que par ses propres richesses à surprendre régulièrement les autres. Pourtant capacités et richesses sont étonnamment presque ... communes, car elles restent stimulantes. Le miracle de tous ces croisements est surtout, pour chacun, d'enrichir un dialogue intérieur. UNE méditation d'amour, nous invitant à ne pas oublier l'autre, tout en restant attentif à tous les autres. Comme je dirais de façon métaphorique. Imaginons un même texte est lu symphoniquement en même temps en différentes langues, devant de nombreux publics, cosmopolites, et à la fin tout le monde semble comprendre et applaudit. La musique de SR est sans égo, une mélodie de la biodiversité éclatante et permanente d'amours, où chaque élément particulier est fondé tout en sachant son interdépendance et sa temporalité. Merci SR votre musique est hollocénique (décarbonée, très naturelle). ET donnez nous de nouvelles œuvres

Thanks for sharing this top-quality performance, beautifully filmed and edited. I love this piece and this ensemble has brought out the best in it.

this is my favourite piece of music, what a great performance

I've never had a favorite piece of music. although there's many pieces that I come back to time and again. This is one of those. There may be months between each listen then I come back and I treat each listen as the first. this is one piece that I come back to and it's almost like hearing it for the first time. one thing I do know is that the first time is always exciting.

Wish the individual shots were held about four times as long.

This and Electric Counterpoint are probably my favorites. They just speak to my soul and it listens with ease. Masterpiece!

bought vinyl many years ago , this is wonderful , cant describe how it feels to hear this ,never really have been able to explain , other than to say its a collection of melodies dancing in space and time

quand je lance cette vidéo, et que je n'ai pas le temps de l'écouter en entier à cause d'un imprévu, cela me demande un effort surhumain pour appuyer sur le bouton stop ! J'attends, je repousse l'échéance en me disant que la coupure sera plus facile quelques minutes plus loin, mais en fait c'est pareil plus loin, c'est impossible d'appuyer sur stop de manière douce et propre sur une telle composition....elle s'écoute en entier ou elle ne s'écoute pas ! C'est rare...et c'est beau.

a beautiful rendition of an otherworldly work of staggering genius; i first saw 18 musicians performed live around the time of the initial album's release, in 1978, then later by the same reich ensemble in the 1990s. really, i have clue how anyone could possibly not love this piece.

This amazing music piece absolutely hypnotizes me. What is so attractive in it? I believe that it is because serial principle applied in this music brings (or invokes) in us emotions and thoughts, but somehow from nowhere. And that appearance or invocations of emotions and thoughts is miracle: the sun rise and sets, seasons follows each other by its order, rain falling, wind is blowing, the sea rises and falls... We are sleeping, then awakening, dressing, then we eat, work, relax... Everything around us and in us is just an serial principle, nothing else. But from where then are coming emotions? What we thinking? What's that colors our life? What gives aroma and character to our existence, to existence of everything? Answers are ours, in us. The miracle of this music is that provokes such internal dialogue, during its durance and long after. Like meditation that leads us to at least partial enlightenment. Astonishing. By the way, sound recording is absolutely magnificent. The best of at least seven or eight recordings I found and listened until now. Of course, that is result of fantastic performance of musicians, each of them.

Man! I can repeat this and hear it for days and days and days.

Une des quelques créations musicales que je préfères sur cette planète, et je ne m'explique toujours pas pourquoi. C'est sans doute bon signe.

Might be my favorite live/video performance of Mf18M!

Something, in this music, takes us in the 70.s. Perfect to think, read, create, rest our mind... beautiful.🤩

Music for 18 musicians... played by 19 musicians!

on the day I last listened to this piece there were 13 people who gave it a thumbs down, WHY?

Peut-être le chef d'œuvre de Steeve Reich. Interprétation parfaite

This such amazing music, I never tire listening to it, always finding something new in its polyphony. It seems to capture the past and the future in the moment.

wow no command only its very very beautiful and the musicians are very very good thank you for this best of best art to play music from steve reich

Capolavoro assoluto.

so beautiful, I can get lost in this music for hours

Substantially greater video than one with Reich performing. I hope I can dance to this on video so that it can be played at my funeral. It is fantastic and supremely uplifting.

thanks Steve, and all your followers, on & outside this world

A piece of precision engineering. Very exciting.

Mesmerizing. This is the definition of "Futurism"

Fantastic, really fantastic performance of Reich's masterpiece.

I've been hearing Music for 18 since 2016 (more than 4 years) and this piece never tires me. This is one of the best ones. The ensemble is perfectly balanced (especially the Marimbas and Pianos) and the Pulses (beginning) sounded beautifully. Magnificent performance! 👏👏👏👏

'Visually', a stunning performance to watch - Bravo!.

Like timeless waves of pulsating music - standing still and moving at the same time - absolutely marvellous!!! Great performance! Love it!

I THINK I FIRST HEARD THIS IN 1990. iT TOTALLY BLEW MY MIND AWAY. I HAVE BEEN A MUSIC COLLECTOR SINCE 1967. IT IS STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITE RECORDS TO THIS DAY. THIS MUSIC MUST GROW ON YOU. THE MORE YOU LISTEN THE MORE YOU WILL LIKE IT.

Fantastic audio AND fantastic video. I love both listening to and watching this performance. My kids even love it as much as I do. Thank you!

Just watching them perform is an added element: mesmerizing. I love this piece.

Mesmeric and static, an endless repetition crafted beautifully!

That is one of the most incredible pieces of music that I have heard in a long, long time. Thank you.

I've heard many performances here on RU-vid and many of them are awesome and I definitely appreciate each and every musician who decided to play this amazing piece. But this performance is one of the most breathtaking. Focus we can see on a face of the violinist is intriguing :D The piano is also more hearable than in most performaces, which is also interesting.

Just brilliant! This sophisticate classic orquester sound opens your mind to yoga and meditation, kundalini and Tibetan jogis - a real profound and experimental music experience!

Bruh! This ensemble is perfection! Perfectly in-sync for almost an hour, imagine how long they would've jammed this to get to this perfect state❤

Stunning - what a piece - remarkable discipline of all the performers. The result is truly beautiful and ecstatically joyful. Just love the bass clarinets and the marimba players are superhuman.

Je ne me lasse pas de Steve Reich et de ses 18 musiciens. Merci. F.

Extraordinaire composition, exécutée par de grands interprètes. Du bonheur!!!!

Truly enjoyed this. I can imagine a dozen dreams, a dozen stories, a dozen films none yet made. Thank you.

geil geil GEIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!wunderschön,,,,aufbau von allen instrumenten ....wow wow wow und ..ich weiss nicht, soll metheny oder reich sich oder uns grüüüsssen (hihi) "absolutly "gbuuuuuuut!!!!!!!

Don’t know why, but this really floats my boat! Thanks to all the musicians!

I think that this is the fastest performance of 18 I've ever heard.

So: a hypnotically gorgeous score, splendidly performed. But ads in the middle of it. Really? Have we really come to that?! Why?!?!

I think this is a moment of pure genious....put to life by amazing artist...

I would love to see this live. This video is almost as good though. Fantastic!

Great accompaniment to maths homework! A great distraction too.

What a thrilling performance!...this recaptures the magic of the earliest recordings of this work, yet an giving it a new refreshing perspective... merci.

Amazing. Thank you for sharing.

This is so impressive. It's an incredibly challenging piece, and the results are both gorgeous and mesmerizing.

This is so close to the way it was mixed and sounds on Phases. Loved Section V especially.

Très belle interprétation, je trouve, et filmée de telle façon qu'on voit ,en plus d'entendre, comment tout s'articule. Merci!

I once experienced audio hallucinations on a massive dose of psilocybin that can really only be compared to this. It was a series of revolving arpeggios of different instruments including pianos, cellos, woodwinds, vocals and plucked instruments all continuously evolving an swirling. I’d never heard anything like it before then. Definitely never heard Steve Reich at that point.

Incredible performance. Thanks for sharing this master piece.

This is awesome! im flying high now !

Timeless and beautiful music. Wonderful performance. Thank you so much for posting this.

This is mesmerizing. One of the best pieces of music I've ever heard. I had never heard something quite like this that captivated me on such a level. Thank you, this is incredibly inspiring.

Hypnotique et génial

A masterpiece.

Thanks for posting, really honestly.

Exquisite.

An amazing performance ! Steve Reich's music is absolutely gorgeous, I really enjoy the phasing concept and minimalism :)

This is one of the best performances I've ever heard!!! Thank you so much for this, it is so beautiful.

I am enchanted by your performance. Listened to three versions of Steve Reichs today, but this was the best. Instruments slightly more specifically present, just more variety and lovely.

For me the ebb and flow of those saxophones are other-worldly, I really enjoy that in particular.

When I first heard this a couple of years ago, I thought it was like listening to the Soul of Nature and every time it's a new dive into something deeply special. But where words fail, let's just bask in this incredible piece, superb performance, and great video recording!

❤ Tellement beau !! incroyable voyage... (et un grand bravo à Jérémie Schellaert et à l'ingé/son... magnifique.. )

One of the best I have ever heard!

Incroyable concert, c'est une pièce de Steeve Reich exceptionnelle . Et tous ces musiciens talentueux , tellement dur à jouer . J'en garde un merveilleux souvenir, et je remercie tous les musiciens . Bravo .

Sublime.

1 hour of pure pleasure

fantastic performence! :)

It makes we wonder.. .. the incredible concentration and stamina to perform this piece!

If I haven't yet commented on this version - beautiful work on a beautiful piece. THANK YOU, Steve Reich.

The Tokyo performance is also very good.

This is wonderful, thanks for putting it up. I was wondering, any performance of Steve Reich's music I see on RU-vid does not appear to be conducted, is that deliberate

Written by a human for humans which have to be kind of super-human, like this Ensemble, to play it. Wow, to be alive at a time when a masterpiece was written. Like any innovative orchestral score you hear new things with each listen upon the ebbs and flows. I remember distinctly the morning when I first heard it. On WAMU-FM in DC there was an hour-long Sunday morning radio show called Galaxis, which opened my stodgy ears to a whole new and unusual sound world. Steve Whealton was the host and had a connection to someone in NYC and received a tape copy, I guess in 1977. I was transfixed.

Excellent performance, particularly by the "foundations" section (xylophones, pianos) - they laid down a beautiful undertow current of rhythm and harmony. I liked the slightly faster tempo too.

une pure merveille

Une réalisation avec l'effet de split screen parfaitement justifié pour rendre visible ce qui s'entend : l'accord musical entre tous. Bravo.

This is my favorite performance of the piece, really stellar. Did I hear a clarinet quack at 36:13? :D

C'était quoi la dernière fois : le Boléro de Ravel ? Génial, a Steve Reich musician is something to be.