Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians (Steve Reich and Musicians, ECM Records 1978)

Reich's magnum opus remains the architectural high-water mark of American minimalism. Over eleven interlocking sections anchored by female voices, marimbas, clarinets and tuned percussion, shimmering pulses swell and contract in accordance with the performers' breath cycles. What initially sounds like an unwavering motoric groove slowly reveals microscopic rhythmic phase shifts, creating an exhilarating, kaleidoscopic sensory immersion.