Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | Music for pieces of wood

A slightly left-field American-themed programme gave Santtu-Matias Rouvali scope to explore, and excel, in the Philharmonia’s exciting return to the Royal Festival Hall.

Utilizing bucolic surroundings, Tatiana Koleva and the Youth Percussion Pool produce an immersive concert of rhythmic experiments. 

Five hours of repetitive music on a Sunday evening may be a hellish way for some to end the week; fortunately, I belong in the second category. A concert series named “Steve Reich Unlimited” therefore required no further selling points.

Colin Currie Group and Synergy Vocals showcase seminal works by Steve Reich: Music for Pieces of Wood (1973), Quartet (2013), & Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76)

The Southbank’s The Rest is Noise continues to draw the crowds, although the promise of Steve Reich himself can’t have made this concert too hard to sell. Reich’s own contribution to this evening, the culmination of a weekend of music and events entitled “Superpower”, was limited to some clapping and letting go of a microphone.

The UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica concert at LSO St. Luke's on the 12th October, billed as a celebration of Steve Reich's 75th birthday, was indeed a celebration, and also a tribute. The performance, by a chamber group of string, percussion and keyboard players from the London Symphony Orchestra, was infused with warm affection for the music.