Last weekend, Colin curated a weekend of events together with The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, to celebrate the 90th birthday of Steve Reich. Planned to coincide exactly with Reich’s 90th birthday, Colin, the Colin Currie Group, and the Colin Currie Quartet performed across a multitude of events that critics have praised as “A brilliant tribute to the master of minimalism.”:
"As a musician, I would feel both safe and inspired by conductor Colin Currie. His understanding and joy in the music is audible, visible, and the accuracy of his direction faultless. His generosity to players mirrored the generosity of this remarkable music, a unique exposition of a significant living composer in one joyous evening."
★★★★★ Bachtrack
“Quartet demands high levels of ensemble virtuosity. The quartet – comprising Currie himself, Owen Gunnell, alongside ever-reliable pianists Siwan Rhys and Philip Moore – duly obliged with a punchy, powerful and flawless performance... a vintage, top-drawer account from the Colin Currie Group, this was a Music for 18 Musicians carved out of subtlety, finesse and conviction.”
★★★★★ Bachtrack
"A brilliant tribute to the master of minimalism. The Glasshouse in Gateshead celebrated the composer by featuring eighteen of his works across eight energetic concerts... the linchpin was the Colin Currie Group, a team of percussion virtuosi Reich has praised as being better at his music than he was... The highlight of the weekend was Reich’s iconic Music for 18 Musicians, an hour of music that seemed to play tricks with time as it unfurled in its own field of energy. Its ceaseless, subtly changing rhythms were like waves of sound that swelled and receded into a vision that stretched way beyond the horizon."
★★★★★ The Times
“Performed with joyful dexterity and all-around buoyancy by the group, Quartet was given a wonderful workout, one awash with spirited virtuosity and ensemble poetry. Owning the piece inside out, the four musicians brought its manifold textures to life with a full scope of colorist vigor...Throughout the performance, one was struck by the collective musicianship involved, as the players and voices locked seamlessly into each other’s parts to build up canons and rhythmic phrases, their processes washed by waves of pulsations on clarinets, voices and the two string instruments. Completing the journey, the final oscillations and their exquisite fadeouts were a thing of wonder, allowing the music to be absorbed into the very air everybody was breathing. Spiritual and visceral, the Colin Curie Group performance of Music for 18 Musicians was quite the perfect way to celebrate Reich at 90.”
Adventures in Music
Watch Colin and the Colin Currie Group perform Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians, Quartet and Music for Pieces of Wood in full from The Glasshouse International Centre for Music:
