COMPOSER REICH PROFILED ON PBS

The term minimalist has become an accepted euphemism for oppressively repetitious as a way to describe the work of such composer/cult heroes as Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Several of the latter’s pieces figure prominently in a “Great Performances” installment tonight on PBS (Channel 24 at 8 p.m., Channels 28 and 15 at 10 p.m.; also Saturday at 8 p.m. on Channel 50).

“Steve Reich: A New Musical Language” is actually a misnomer, since many of the excerpted works are well over a decade old. Even though the music can seem numbing in its unrelieved boringness, this hourlong profile, briskly directed by Margaret Williams, has a lot going for it--most notably the composer himself.

Like John Cage, that loveable guru of the avant-garde, Reich is a glib, easy-going man who happens to write extremely arduous music.

Throughout the program, he provides articulate commentary, offering occasional insights into the creation of such pieces as “Come Out,” “Drumming,” “Clapping Music,” etc. Nowhere, however, does he deal with the dilemma of just how an audience is supposed to approach his work--not even an anecdote about some of the often violent responses his music has generated in performance.

That delightful chore is left to Michael Tilson Thomas who, with Reich, was a player at the raucous premiere of “Four Organs.” As the crowd vociferously booed and cheered afterwards, Tilson Thomas recalls, he leaned over and exclaimed to the stunned composer, “This is fantastic--you’ve gotten under their skin!”

Apart from an extended excerpt from the Sextet, nothing figures to get under viewers’ skins in this show. We witness only brief snippets of several works: short enough to give the idea, but hardly long enough to provide the composer’s intended effect. Still, few who watch are likely to hunger for more.

More troubling than the redundancy of the music is the sheer gutlessness of much of it. “Drumming,” for instance, is heavily influenced by African polyrhythms, according to Reich. Yet, watching his neatly attired group dutifully tap out the patterns, one can’t help imagining an ensemble of African tribesmen bringing visceral excitement to the same beats.

This music is definitely an acquired taste. As Reich himself notes, “You’re either drawn in like a magnet or you’re not.”