Steve Reich- A lecture from the legendary modern classical composer

As far as guest lecturers go, Steve Reich, a legend of contemporary composition, and “The greatest living composer of our time” (New York Times) is up there with the best of them.

Reich, who, from the late 1960s, was key in the moving classical music into the 21^st century, pioneering the use of electronics, minimalist and experimental styles, came to Sussex University to talk about his work WTC 9/11. Written in 2009 in memorial to the World Trade Centre bombings, the piece uses a mixture of a string quartet with samples of documentary audio taken from the day of the World Trade Centre attack and interviews he conducted in the years afterwards.

The talk was conducted in the style of a mock interview between him and Andrew Burke, Chief Executive of the London Sinfonietta. Questions asked gave a fascinating insight into the processes that Steve Reich goes through when composing his music: what he does to treat vocal samples so that they can work with a musical ensemble; how he treats historic events that he composes about, and if he treats more recent events (such as 9/11) any differently to the way in which he approaches ones further in the past.

Steve Reich’s talk comes ahead of a concert at the Dome Theatre in which he, along with the London Sinfonietta, are performing a series of his seminal works, such as Clapping Music and Double Sextet along with a performance of a new work, Radio Rewrite, a new major work which takes its inspiration from the music of Radiohead.

London Philharmonic 23/02/13- American Night

An evening of American classics was on offer last weekend in the latest of the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s current series of concerts at the Brighton Dome Theatre.

The Orchestra, conducted by Marian Alsop, treated the audience to captivating performances of Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man”, Joan Tower’s “Fanfare For The Uncommon Woman”, Copland’s “Piano Concerto”, George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9 From The New World”.

This eclectic and exciting program not only showed off the talents of a full orchestra, but enabled the talents of other musicians to be drafted into the fold for the evening- including up to three saxophonists and a banjo player.

The Piano Concerto, expertly played by Garrick Ohlsson showed off the simplicity of Copland’s writing, whilst allowing the soloist to show a laid back style of virtuosity often overlooked for technical prowess and speed.

The performance of Rhapsody in Blue was enjoyed by all, and allowed various instrumentalists the scope to show their worth- such as the iconic clarinet glissando that opens the piece.

The acoustic of the Brighton Dome gave the concert an added charm as normally indistinct parts leapt out into the foreground. Hearing the banjo part clearly for the first time was a refreshing change.

Overall, the evening was brilliantly performed by all, with a fantastic program choice, showing a different side of the orchestra and contrasted well with the rest of their concert series, performing pieces which are often overlooked.

9/10