Aart Strootman – Steve Reich Marathon

Guitarist Aart Strootman builds Steve Reich's minimalist guitar work layer by layer in real time. Through live recordings and stacked patterns, a four-hour sound tapestry emerges in which rhythm, harmony and texture slowly transform. In Electric Counterpoint (1987), Steve Reich constructs a layered structure from repeating guitar patterns. Originally, Pat Metheny recorded all parts in advance and added one layer live. Aart Strootman plays and records everything on the spot. With his back to the audience, he works through an enlarged score, layer by layer. The work unfolds in real time into nearly four hours of music. This makes Reich's technique tangible: from clear and transparent to a rich, complex sound image, sometimes almost organ-like. Steve Reich Marathon shows the precise construction of a musical tapestry of rhythm, harmony and shifting accents.