Steve Reich

Originally released as a 10-CD boxed set, this is everything you ever wanted to know about Steve Reich, but were afraid to ask -- and then some. Sampling fiends and tape-music buffs can go straight to "Come Out" and "It's Gonna Rain"; mystics and mathematicians will be mesmerized by the looping pulsations of "Drumming," "Six Marimbas" and "Music for 18 Musicians." Later works beef up both sonically and conceptually, setting exile and urbanism to orchestral scores, but nothing can beat the instinctive grace of "Clapping Music."