Colin Currie, described by The Spectator as ‘The world’s finest and most daring percussionist’, and Hallé percussionists begin this exciting mini-fest of Steve Reich’s music with his celebrated Music for Pieces of Wood.

Here Reich aimed to make music with the simplest possible instruments – just five pairs of pitched claves. His Music for Ensemble and Orchestra was envisaged as an ‘extension of the Baroque Concerto where there are 20 soloists – all regular members of the orchestra.’ The San Francisco Chronicle declared it ‘a stunning masterpiece’. For Reich’s major choral and orchestral work The Desert Music, members of the RNCM Chamber Choir also take to the stage. Setting words by William Carlos Williams, the work addresses, the composer comments, ‘That constant flickering of attention between what words mean and how they sound.’