Currie
Colin Currie, courtesy of colincurrie.net.
My friend said that I would particularly enjoy Beethoven’s No. 7 in A Major, but he always says that I’m going to enjoy this piece or that piece every time we attend a concert at Powell Hall. But on October 5, though an oldie but goodie like Beethoven was enjoyable, the highlight of the concert was really the guest percussion soloist. Colin Currie, during the first piece of the evening, Der gerettete Alberich, brought percussion to the forefront of the stage and to the melody of music, out of the instrument’s normal niche in the back as the rhythm keeper. Utilizing a variety of percussive instruments ranging from the steel drum to the marimbas to a typical drum set, created a kind-of dissonant tone reflective of contemporary classical music. My mind tends to wander during these concerts, conjuring images evoked from the music. The first movement reminded of the Men in Black movie, illustrating an alien chase. I’ve come to accept my inability to concentrate of orchestral composition, but if the music plays and I see an alien chase, then the music can’t be all that bad. Currie has a reputation for “charismatic and virtuosic performances” and he did not let the audience down with his solo. My friend didn’t appreciate the modernity so much. He’s not the biggest fan of the more recent and current classical music. Nonetheless, one cannot ignore musicianship of Currie and his engaging performance that night. —Allison Reilly, St. Louis Magazine Fall Intern
