Kuniko Plays Reich - Plak

ENGLISH

Presented on this recording are three brand new arrangements of Steve Reich works, newly written for percussion, in celebration of his 75th birthday by one of today's most gifted percussionists.

»Kuniko Kato is a first rate percussionist who has put a lot of careful thought and hours of rehearsal into making this excellent [album]. She has created new and very beautiful arrangements.« (Steve Reich)

»This album contains my arrangements of Steve Reich's masterpieces from the 1980s. It contains Electric Counterpoint (1987), Six Marimbas (1986) and Vermont Counterpoint (1982). I worked on these arrangements during 2009 and 2010. They are arranged for solo percussion and pre-recorded tape for live performance. Each of these pieces is the first arrangement of their kind in the world. All three pieces were solo overdubbed; however I played through all the parts from the beginning to the end, without using loops or quantisation in order to emphasise the live atmosphere in ensemble performance. All of the mixings are based on my concepts and I closely collaborated with each recording engineer.« (Kuniko Kato)

Kuniko's arrangements are simply stunning and this recording exhibits elements of her Japanese heritage to create a warm, virtuosic performance. This unique recording must be heard!