Colin Currie Quartet: Steve Reich & company

Percussion fans, clear your diaries. Colin Currie’s series marking Steve Reich’s 90th birthday continues, celebrating a younger generation composing powerful, expressive and hugely enjoyable music. A movement from Andy Ahiko’s Seven Pillars kicks things off with a burst of energy. There’s humour in Ben Nobuto’s Daily Affirmation, commissioned by the quartet, the four players ‘dispensing joy in little packaged doses like those Pez sweets’. Then it’s time for something brand new from American composer Robert Honstein, who describes his appealing, evocative music as filled with a ‘spirit of play’. Camille Pépin’s gentle, flowing work for two vibraphones and two marimbas – a classic Steve Reich combination – is the perfect foil for Drumming Part 1 by Steve Reich. His trademark intensity and physicality are given free rein in this work for four drum kits. Its soundworld gradually expands from hi-hats alone to a ‘cacophony of conflicting pounding sounds’, a cathartic end to a compelling programme. Programme Andy Akiho Pillar III Ben Nobuto Daily Affirmation Robert Honstein New work (world premiere) Camille Pépin Avant, pendant, et pourtant (UK premiere) Steve Reich Drumming Part 1 Performers Colin Currie Quartet Colin Currie, Owen Gunnell, Adrian Spillett, Sam Walton