Gramophone Magazine
May 2018
Editor's Choice

Colin Currie Group, Synergy Vocals

The pioneering classical percussionist Colin Currie launches his own record label with a recording of Steve Reich’s iconic Drumming, performed by the Colin Currie Group and released in March 2018. Colin Currie Records is a platform for the soloist’s diverse projects, celebrating the extraordinary developments for percussion music over the past century.

Drumming was the piece which launched the Colin Currie Group, a virtuoso ensemble of musicians hand-picked by Currie.

Formed in 2006 for a performance at the BBC Proms celebrating the 70th birthday of Steve Reich, the group specialises in the American composer’s work. This recording was made possible by a crowd-funding campaign, which Reich enthusiastically endorsed, saying “It will be, I am sure, the best recording of Drumming ever made!”

Dating from 1971, Drumming is an epic work for nine percussionists, two vocalists and a piccolo player, and employs Reich’s trademark phasing technique. Over four connected parts, the composer explores different instrument groups, first focusing on bongo drums, then marimbas and glockenspiels before the complete ensemble come together for the piece’s climax.

"These guys have a pedigree with this unfathomably difficult score and their fresh, slick recording shows it...On top, the playing is more than secure: confident, bright and delivered on the front foot...A Drumming for this decade – and probably a few to come, too." - Gramophone Magazine May 2018