Steve Reich: Drumming

Composer Steve Reich has said Colin Currie Group’s performances of his Drumming are the “best I’ve ever heard.” That’s quite some recommendation. This recording is an extraordinary display of super-tight rhythm, dynamic control, and incredible ensemble. Currie and co. negotiate, with micro-accuracy and smoothness, Reich’s complex “phasing”—whereby the instruments, including drums, marimbas, glockenspiels, and vocal effects, move subtly in and out of time with one another. The effect is beautiful, arresting, hypnotic even—especially in Part III, where glockenspiels collide in glorious confusion before realigning in the most magical fashion.