TERRY RILEY : IN C

Review Terry Riley, In C:
I defy anyone not to be hypnotized by this performance
“I’m not sure that I have enough superlatives to review this disc properly. It is a triumphant – and live – rendition of this staggering, visionary work (I still remember the shock and physical anger I felt when hearing this piece on the radio for the first time, aged 14 or so, having assiduously absorbed all that BBC Radio 3’s series ‘Music in our Time’ could throw at me up to that point without demur!). Ictus, as at home with Riley as they are with Lindberg, bring the most astonishing resonance to the work, evident from the very first note. They bring out the music’s intensely lyrical qualities at the same time as making one aware of the huge structural spans implicit in Riley’s scheme of 53 tiny cells.
Ictus use percussion (lots of it, of the tuned variety), double-basses, harp, cello, guitar, piano, accordion, oboe, violin and clarinets together with the four saxophones of the BL!NDMAN Kwartet; and the result is a delicately scored performance which allows all manner of subtlety to come through the texture. Somehow it is just the right combination of strings, wood and metal, and Ictus’s magnificent, controlled use of soft dynamics (called for specifically by the composer in his performance note) work magic. I defy anyone not to be hypnotized by this performance – there’s so much to fascinate the ear. A formidable achievement.”
Andante, Ivan Moody, International record review 2001

Interview Terry Riley by Dan Collins from L.A. Record:

D. C.: Last year I went to the Los Angeles Downtown Public Library, checked out a copy of your In C on CD, and somehow lost it on the way to the car. They charged me thirty dollars to replace it! Do you think it was really worth that much?
T. R.: Which version did you get? There’s about 25 versions out there. There are some versions out there that I think would definitely be worth it. One would be the Ictus Ensemble from Belgium. The Bang on a Can version. And the Paul Hillier Ensemble version.

D.C: What’s the worst version of your music you’ve ever heard?
T. R.: Ha ha—I don’t think I can answer that! There’ve been so many versions of In C that people have done who didn’t quite understand the piece, or at least didn’t have the right forces together to really make it work. But that’s fine, too—because one of the great things about In C is that it brings people together in a group. So even if you don’t succeed, at least you’ve had a communal experience!