Barbican Hall, London
For this celebration of the composer in his 90th year, the Colin Currie Group focused on works written in the last two decades, including the brand new In All Your Ways

There have been a fair few 90th birthday concerts celebrating Steve Reich this year, but the Colin Currie Group came up with something a little different. Eschewing the signature works of the 1970s and 80s, and with the exception of 1972’s still mind-expanding Clapping Music, everything here was written by a composer over the age of 71. Furthermore, the London premiere of In All Your Ways featured the work of a man entering into his tenth decade.

After a bitty start, the group got into its stride with a series of four masterworks back-to-back. Radio Rewrite is Reich at his coolest, five continuous movements that riff on a pair of classic Radiohead songs; those in the know can just about perceive them in the harmonic atmosphere of the slow sections and the faster music’s lyrical outlines. Currie conducted a nicely chilled reading, the playing as tight as a drum.

Sinfonia of London/Wilson/Kilsby/Parkes
(Chandos)
The Sinfonia and John Wilson bring warmth and sparkle to works by Ireland, Walton and Goosens; rising star tenor Laurence Kilsby and Christopher Parkes are expressive soloists in the Britten Serenade

This is John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London’s third album exploring British music for strings and, like its predecessors, showcases lesser-known repertoire alongside an acknowledged masterpiece. In this case, the byways include music by Ireland, Walton and Goossens with Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings as centrepiece.

Written with the country on the brink of war, Ireland’s Concertino Pastorale comes with a baked-in nostalgia for an imagined rural idyll. Wilson gets to the troubled heart of the matter with a brooding Eclogue and poignant Threnody before finding release in the upbeat Toccata. The Sinfonia of London string sound displays a tremendous warmth in Chandos’ spacious recording, especially evident in Goossens’ lyrical nature poem, By the Tarn.