New York Counterpoint by Steve Reich

• New York Counterpoint


  A piece commissioned by The Fromm Music Foundation for clarinettist Richard Stolzman, composed in 1985
• New York Counterpoint


  Continuation of the ideas found in Vermont Counterpoint, composed in 1982, where a soloist plays against a pre-recorded tape of themselves
• New York Counterpoint composition

  Soloist pre-records ten clarinet and bass clarinet parts, then plays a final eleventh part live in concert against the tape
• The composer chose to record the tape part themselves rather than hire a version recorded by another clarinettist to cater for potential differences in timbre and to allow them to fully understand the learning and performing process of this work
• Compositional procedures in New York Counterpoint

  • Opening pulses come from the opening of Music for 18 Musicians, written by the composer in 1976
  • Use of interlocking repeated melodic patterns played by multiples of the same instrument, found in the composer's earliest works Piano Phase and Violin Phase from 1967
• New York Counterpoint structure

  Three movements: fast, slow, fast, played one after the other without pause
• Movement I (Fast)


  1. Opening ostinato

  2. Simple melody emerges and repeats in phase with other groupings of clarinets

  3. More melodic patterns emerge and build up the texture

  4. Interlocking melodic passages are repeated

  5. Larger pattern seen as interlocking melodies and chordal pulses are in phase

  6. Melodies or melodic patterns become the basis for the following section as other parts fade out

  7. Ostinato from the opening returns in a number of parts, bringing the movement to a close
• Movement II (Slow)


  1. Starts immediately after the first movement

  2. Plays with the same ideas of phase shifting and melodic imitation

  3. Persistent use of staggered repetition of melodic material is at the centre of the movement's construction

  4. Abrupt and halved change of tempo from the first movement, establishing an ambiguity between measured groupings of notes

  5. Most melodic of the three movements, acting as an interlude and stimulant for the final movement
• Movement III (Fast)


  1. Bass clarinets function to accent in prominence

  2. Melody, presented in a slow 6/8, is sharply interrupted by an antiphonal sharing of melody in the bass clarinet parts while the upper clarinets remain similar

  3. Takes elements from the previous movements and incorporates them into the bass clarinet line, uniting the work and creating cohesion
• New York Counterpoint


  • Intended to capture the throbbing vibrancy of Manhattan
  • Notable for its ability to imitate electronic sounds through acoustic instrumentation, assisted through the use of electronic amplification of the tape part in the performance
• Tonality


  • No Soading
  • Soading 1
• Key signature


  • Piece is in the key of B major
  • There is an extra sharp (on the 4th)
  • Therefore, the key is a lydian mode on E
• Bars 39-45


  Tonality of F sharp major with a G in the base
• Structure


  1. Section 1 lasts from bars 1-26

  2. Section 2 lasts from bars 27-65
• Phrasing


  • Changes from 6-8-6 and so on
  • The counterpoint fades towards the end in dynamic and texture
• Harmony

  • Four part harmony chord at bar 26 in Clarinets 7-10 uses a D sharp only for homorrhythmic pulsations
  • Pulsations dynamically fade in and out
  • Chords at bars 33-38 are based on 4ths
• Melody


  Based on a six note scale
• Rhythm and Meter

  • At bar 14, the live Clarinet and Clarinet 1 are a whole beat out of phrase
  • Piece is in triple meter - the pulse is not easy to detect
• Texture

  • Counterpoint is a type of polyphonic motif repeated and cannoned
  • More parts are added at bar 9
• Instrumentation


  • Uses no other instruments other than the Clarinet
  • Soloist has pre-recorded eight Clarinets and two bass Clarinets
  • Has a final solo Clarinet playing over the top
• The two clarinet parts in the first two bars

  Playing with a homorhythmic texture in 11ths
• The music in bars 3-6

  Exactly the same as that in bars 1-2, with a bar pause between each melodic bar
• The live clarinettist starts playing unrelated material to the pre-recorded tracks at bar 5
• Phrasing


  Music is divided into a specific way especially for performances, e.g. the phrasing of the melody lines is two bars long at bars 9-10
• NAM 12 is neither tonal or atonal, instead it uses the lydian mode on E (B with five sharps plus an extra sharp on the 4th)
• How Reich creates variety in NAM 12

  1. Adapting the melody line between parts

  2. Playing a live clarinet with a constantly varying melody

  3. Including a tonic pedal of C# in the bass
• Playing to a backing tape in New York Counterpoint

  • Compromises the spontaneity of live performance significantly
  • Nine clarinets pre-recorded makes it difficult to hear the live clarinet
  • Repeating melodies in the pre-recorded clarinets will make it difficult for the live clarinet to change his melody