Back in the 1980s, Steve Reich abandoned writing for symphony orchestra, disheartened by conductors and classical musicians who simply didn’t get his uniquely challenging vibe. The opening concert in the Hallé’s three-day Reich mini festival was a chance to hear both 1985’s The Desert Music – the work that broke the camel’s back, so to speak – and 2018’s Music for Ensemble and Orchestra, the octogenarian composer’s bounce-back piece, encouraged by a new generation brought up on his intricate rhythms and distinctive sound world.
Festival curator Colin Currie and four Hallé percussionists kicked off with a textbook account of Music for Pieces of Wood. Written in 1973, five sets of pitched wooden sticks clatter away like woodpeckers on speed. The taut concentration on the players’ faces gradually fell away as they eased into the groove, hypnotic patterns throwing up subtle variations as the piece hurtled to its rattling conclusion.
