barnesandnoble.com: How familiar are you with the work of the various remixers?

Steve Reich: Not at all! My first introduction to the whole thing was six or seven years ago when someone gave me a copy of the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds" [from ADVENTURES BEYOND THE ULTRAWORLD], and there in the middle of it is [a sample of] my composition "Electric Counterpoint." Since the Orb were not very well known at the time, I suggested to Nonesuch that they not go after them for money, which probably upped my stock in the remix world.

bn: Did it surprise you to learn that these nonclassical musicians were familiar with your music?

SR: I think it's wonderful, and it's a kind of poetic justice. When I was a teenager, I used to go down to Birdland and hear Miles Davis and Kenny Clarke. Later on, when I was at Juilliard, I heard John Coltrane. This had an enormous impression on me. In 1974, after a concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall, this guy with long hair and lipstick comes up to me and says, "Hi, I'm Brian Eno." Then in Berlin in 1976, after a performance of "Music for 18 Musicians," I met David Bowie. Now cut to the Orb and their generation. That's the way life ought to be. That's the way Bach and Bartok and Stravinsky worked, and it's how Kurt Weill worked. There should be a back-and-forth between what goes on in the street and the clubs and what goes on in the concert halls.

bn: What are some of the most appealing elements in the remixes?

SR: In Howie B.'s remix of "Eight Lines," he not only stays in 5/8 but he gets into 10/8, not your usual meter in rock 'n' roll or remix music. The fact that it really works and feels good and natural is a tour de force. The Andrea Parker piece is very dark, and "The Four Sections" is barely in evidence, just a little bit of melodic material that comes in another register. There's so much lumbering, slow, somber stuff going on, yet it's very surprising how you can totally feel the original piece. And Tranquility Bass's "Megamix" sounds like an episode of "This Is Your Life."

bn: What did you think of Coldcut's take on "Music for 18 Musicians"?

SR: I was completely knocked out by it. Their own title -- and it's too bad we didn't use it -- was "Music for One Computer." It's very straightforward: "Here's 'Music for 18 Musicians' done our way."

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