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Terry Riley

Born in 1935, Terry Riley is an American composer and regarded as one of the founders of minimalism. His influences include both jazz and Indian classical music. Riley’s composition In C, written in 1964, is often regarded as the first truly minimalist work. In C is made up of 53 cells and can be played by any combination of instruments and voices. The performers can even choose how many times they repeat each cell, which gives them greater autonomy.

The elements of music to consider

Pitch and melody

All the phrases vary in length, for example cells 15, 19, 21 and 30 consist of just a single note whereas number 35 contains 25 notes. Some contain just two pitches whilst number 35 contain the range of an augmented eleventh.

Rhythm and metre

The cells are of varying lengths and must be performed strictly in tempo.

One musician must repeat cell 1 in order to keep time. So that it can be heard above the other players, cell 1 is usually played on a piano or mallet percussion instrument and an octave higher than written.

Structure

The 53 cells must be played in order but the performers can choose how many times they repeat each cell. The piece begins to end when the first performer reaches cell 53. This phrase is then repeated until all of the other performers reach the same cell. When everyone has arrived at this point, the music crescendos before decreasing in volume. The performers can now begin to drop out and stop playing.

Instrumentation

The composer suggests In C should be performed by approximately 35 musicians and can be any combination of instruments and voices.

Texture

The first bar will be performed in unison before the players move through the different cells. The layering of these different cells creates a polyphonic texture as all the performers are playing independently.

Harmony and tonality

The piece is called In C, but not all the cells are actually in this key. F# is present in ten phrases and four phrases include B♭.