Sony Classical Celebrates 90th Birthday of Visionary American Composer Terry Riley with Terry Riley - The Columbia Recordings - Out August 22
SONY CLASSICAL CELEBRATES THE 90TH BIRTHDAY OF
VISIONARY AMERICAN COMPOSER TERRY RILEY
WITH THE RELEASE OF
TERRY RILEY – THE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS
ON AUGUST 22, 2025 | PRE-ORDER NOW
THE DEFINITIVE REISSUE OF TERRY RILEY’S PIONEERING WORKS
PACKAGED IN A NEW FOUR-DISC SET HIGHLIGHTING HIS REVOLUTIONARY RECORDINGS
IN C / A RAINBOW IN CURVED AIR / CHURCH OF ANTHRAX / SHRI CAMEL
PLUS A 50-PAGE BOOKLET WITH RARE STUDIO PHOTOS AND ESSAYS
One of the most consequential musicians of the 20th century – the visionary American composer Terry Riley – is celebrated with the Sony Classical release of Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings. Set for release on August 22 and available for pre-order now, the four-disc box set includes Terry Riley’s unique recordings for Columbia Masterworks between 1968 and 1980 that changed the direction and expanded the range of late 20th-century music.
Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings box set includes the albums In C (1968); A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969); Church of Anthrax (1971, in collaboration with John Cale of the Velvet Underground); and Shri Camel (1980), all made for Columbia Masterworks at a time when the label was boldly embracing new directions in American music. This collection offers an essential document of Riley’s most transformative period when the pulse of innovation met the possibilities of high-fidelity sound.
In addition to all four complete recordings and rarely seen archival photographs from recording sessions in Columbia’s fabled 30th Street Studios in Manhattan, Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings includes a 50-page booklet featuring first-hand reflections from David Behrman, the original producer of In C and A Rainbow in Curved Air; and an essay by Thomas M. Welsh, Terry Riley’s longtime manager and archivist; and reprints of all essays and notes from the original vinyl releases.
“The magic of Terry Riley’s music derives from many worlds, among them the minimalist world, the indeterminate world, and the music of the world,” Grammy-nominated producer and former Sony Masterworks executive Tom Laskey wrote in his essay for Terry Riley – The Columbia Recordings. “And the way it all fuses together creates its own world. And like going to a new world, maybe it’s awkward at first. And then, maybe, it’s like you’ve lived there all your life. Or maybe your experience of listening to Terry’s music is like mine: it’s not the world I live in, but when I visit, I don’t want to leave.”
Terry Riley, a Californian who celebrates his 90th birthday in June, is widely regarded as the father of minimalist music, particularly because of the electrifying, global impact that In C had when the recording was released in 1968 as a part of Columbia’s Music of Our Time series.
The composer’s ideas had an immediate impact on other innovators in the 1960s, a group that included Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and La Monte Young, all eventually recognized as key figures in the minimalist movement. (Young was an early friend and collaborator of Riley’s, and Reich was among the performers in the original concert performance of In C.) Modern jazz and Indian classical music were basic influences on Riley’s work, as well as the potential in improvisation and the expressive possibilities in tape and electronic music.
It was the impact of the recording of In C – perhaps because it revealed to a mass audience such an epic, indescribable but mesmerizing new musical expression – signaled a turning point in 20th-century music, a rare instance when the avant garde and a liberated audience converged in a popular commercial success for a musical visionary with a major American record label.
Terry Riley’s rich musical life has continued through the decades to explore the potential of his musical ideas, building on the early success and his four seminal recordings for Columbia Masterworks.
TERRY RILEY – THE COLUMBIA RECORDINGS - SET CONTENTS:
DISC 1 - CD
1 In C (2009 Remastered)
DISC 2 – CD
1 A Rainbow in Curved Air
2 Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band
3 A Rainbow in the Curved Air (Radio Spot) (Bonus Track)
DISC 3 – CD
1 Church of Anthrax
2 The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles
3 The Soul of Patrick Lee
4 Ides of March
5 The Protégé
DISC 4 – CD
1 Anthem of the Trinity
2 Celestial Valley
3 Across the Lake of the Ancient World
4 Desert of Ice
Sony Music Masterworks comprises Masterworks, Sony Classical, Milan Records, XXIM Records, and Masterworks Broadway imprints. For email updates and information please visit www.sonymusicmasterworks.com/.