TERRY RILEY レコード& CD

Review: .Keyboardist John Tilbury has been a friend of Terry Riley for decades, and on numerous occasions has performed the Minimalist composer's infamous 'Keyboard Studies' - early cyclical compositions for piano or synthesiser that encourage the performer to improvise and create variations on a theme - in public. He also recorded them for BBC Radio in 1971. The recordings showcased here, first released in 2022 and now finally available again on CD, were recorded in Hamburg, Germany, "at some point between the 1970s and 1995". Rich in natural reverb, slowly shifting melodic motifs and subtle variations, his renditions of the 20-minute-plus 'Keyboard Study #1' and 'Keyboard Study #2' are simply sublime; awe-inspiring translations of two of Riley's most mesmerising early works. Also included is a superbly spacey, synthesiser-powered version of Riley's 1965 composition 'Dorian Reeds'.