in the pantheon of "18 Musicians..."
I've listened to Steve Reich's masterpiece hundreds of times now, surely... by many different groups and performances over the years — although to be sure I've listened to specific performances multiple times, for obvious reasons (one of which is each performance is always going to have something new and subtle to discover!) — and I keep running into new favorites.
The one I discovered (yet again by serendipity) this afternoon is this 2014 performance on Radio France by the groups Synergy Vocals and Ensemble Intercomporain. Not only is it a sonic tour de force, it's a visual one as well, with the 'screenplay' a masterpiece in its own right, the production values worthy of the most accomplished of movie directors -- s/he just knew where and when to focus a camera angle or view. I found myself breaking into tears as I listened and watched, with those transitions embedded into my molecules with such familiarity reaching me in yet a new way.
The combinations — of sound and video, the interplay and interpolations of the sub-groups of musicians in this production is beyond astounding. Perfection itself. The music and visuals washed over me like nothing else before... a cleansing, a coming alive of the deep background hum of the universe itself.
Incroyable!