condition (record/cover): NM / EX
Gatefold sleeve.
The second ECM Reich LP. Three pieces representing three different scales of ensemble. Music for a Large Ensemble (1978), Side A, is Reich's first major work for genuinely orchestral forces (mallet instruments, brass, strings, voice, around thirty players), a step toward the chamber-orchestra writing that would define the eighties Reich. Octet (1979), Side B opener, scored for two pianos, string quartet, two clarinets and two flutes: more contrapuntal and chamber-music-like than its predecessors. Violin Phase (1967), Side B closer, Shem Guibbory plays all four violin parts (three pre-recorded against one live), the canonical recording of one of the early phase pieces.
Recorded August 1979 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, the same West German facility ECM used for many of its Reich and Jan Garbarek sessions. Conducted by Reich. The cover, all monochrome and quiet typography, is Barbara Wojirsch at her most austere.
