Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians

Percussionist Colin Currie was a 12-year-old growing up in Scotland when he first encountered the American composer Steve Reich’s minimalist masterpiece Music for 18 Musicians. Reich’s seminal 1978 recording of the piece was “one of the first CDs I owned,” Currie recalls to Apple Music Classical. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard this music coming out of the speakers.” Three decades later, Currie has made his own recording of Music for 18 Musicians with the Colin Currie Group, a handpicked ensemble specialising in the performance of Reich’s music. Currie’s enthusiasm for what he calls “the genius of the piece”, and its precisely calculated mix of pulses and sonorities, has in no way diminished in the years since he first heard it. “It’s a perfect piece of mathematics but, at the same time, every single phrase is completely given over to the musicians performing it in that moment,” Currie says. “All these hairpin patterns, all these swelling phrases that rise and fall are not fixed or calibrated but placed in the moment by the musicians. No two performances could ever be even approximately the same.” The scope which Reich gives the ensemble to make its own decisions in Music for 18 Musicians means that far more responsibility devolves to individual players than in a typical, fully notated classical score. The Colin Currie Group is particularly fortunate, however, to have worked frequently with Reich in person, gleaning invaluable information about how he likes his music to sound. “It’s his meticulous ear that’s really striking, and he’s got so many tricks of the trade to pass on in Music for 18 Musicians,” Currie says. “Meeting him for the first time in 2011 was extremely daunting—I was so star-struck. But he could not have been nicer. He’s a gentleman and now describes himself as the grandfather of our group. He’s very clear and honest when he sits in on our rehearsals, but also exceptionally positive.” Currie’s choice of venue for the new recording is another crucial factor in capturing what he calls the “symphonic quality” of Reich’s soundworld in Music for 18 Musicians. Abbey Road Studio Two in London, where The Beatles famously recorded, turned out to cast a special aura over the recording sessions in November 2022. “There’s magic in the air—you do get a buzz walking in there,” notes Currie. “When I went to the booth to listen to playbacks, I was overwhelmed by the sweep of what we were achieving. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.” While much of Reich’s music relies on fine textural calculations and precision-tooled rhythmic detailing, Currie strongly rebuts the suggestion that it is in any way unemotional or heartless. “It’s true that Steve’s music is for the most part abstract, and it’s for the listener to relate to it in their own way as a very personal experience,” he says. “But I can confirm that Steve does relate very, very strongly to the emotional impact of music, and I know that he wants people to connect to it in that way. Also, the enjoyment of actually playing the music is very important to him. With my group he has that in spades, because we love it.” Currie’s devotion to Music for 18 Musicians, and his long-standing immersion in the piece, lend a special feeling of insight and empathy to his new recording. “Our whole approach to the aesthetic of Steve’s music is that its meticulous accuracy and precision are not [at the expense of] a bigger emotional heart,” he explains “The idea of beauty in this music is exactly what we’re after. My hope is by the time you get to the end of the recording, the concluding pulses are almost reflective, melancholic even; there’s a real poignancy and regret at having to let the piece go. At other points there are great highs, great release, great joy, and we’re aiming for each section to speak with maximum emotion.”