“Der gerettete Alberich is a work which uses a wide range of percussion instruments of all kinds, spread across the front of the stage, which Colin Currie strikes in alternation as he moves from one side of the stage to the other. Quotes from certain leitmotifs of the Ring can be heard, and the piece moves from passages of sliding dissonant chords to moments of rock-music fury in which the percussionist improvises on the drum-kit. Currie is clearly at ease on stage, and works in close complicity with Kwamé Ryan.”
Classiqueinfo.com, 29 February 2008
“...Colin Currie, the solo percussionist, ably demonstrated the concerto's worth, rushing from instrument to instrument, dodging Alsop's endlessly gyrating body and a forest of microphone stands. He played with great virtuosity and great colour, opening the concerto with hushed, humming marimba drones and relishing the contrast between the work's virtuosic outer sections and dappled, elusive centre. His antiphonies with the orchestral percussion were arresting in their violence, the machine gun dialogue reminiscent of the combating timpanis of Nielsen's Inextinguishable symphony or, indeed, of the sparring soprano queens of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. Throughout, Currie made not one wrong move, even in the fiendishly difficult cadenza, and Alsop provided characterful, ebullient orchestral accompaniment.”
Musicomh.com, December 2007
"Veni, Veni, Emmanuel is one of the most successful pieces of contemporary music. With its insistent and memorable rhythmic drive, visual flair (the soloist alternating between three percussion 'stations,' including the tubular bells at the back) and with its final coup de théâtre, when the orchestra-players take up bells to offer a glistening backdrop to the ever-faster pealing of the soloist, Veni, veni, Emmanuel has lost none of its power to delight and amaze. Colin Currie negotiated both platform and music faultlessly. On his rare bars off, he stood to the side to watch the orchestra, before dashing back to the multiple instruments he has to co-ordinate, sometimes at the same time, though mostly in complicated syncopation. There is no better example of how a piece of contemporary music can immediately engage an audience and it is the final ringing chord dying away to silence that will stick in my memory."
ClassicalSource.com , August 2007
"MacMillan's dramatic tour de force for percussion soloist and orchestra Veni, Veni, Emmanuel has become a best-seller in the concert hall, and there simply isn't a better exponent than the charismatic Colin Currie."
BBC Music Magazine , August 2007
"[Veni, Veni, Emmanuel] keeps the soloist busy, especially near the beginning when he visits all the percussion groups in short order and in a demanding vibraphone solo near the end. There was something more than mere virtuosity in Currie's performance - a calm centeredness that seemed fully attuned to the composer's religious aspirations."
San Antonio Express News , 12 May 2007
"Hardenberger's style, generating tremendous emotions out of stillness, is the perfect dramatic foil for Currie's overt dynamism. ... The percussion layout resembled an altar, turning Currie into the celebrant of some arcane ritual; he goaded Hardenberger into a series of stylised responses, by turns ululating and ecstatic. ... Enthralling stuff, every second of it"
The Guardian , 17 February 2007
"James MacMillan's percussion feast Veni, Veni Emmanuel, with the vigorously wonderful Colin Currie ... where Currie and Alsop were in perfect synch, riding the score's tumultuous journey from strife through joy to the ting-a-ling Easter coda. Exciting music, excitingly performed."
The Times , 14 February 2007
"Currie was a confident and exciting protagonist, strolling the stage between stations and summoning a universe of sonic color. In Alberich's more extroverted moments, Currie let loose with powerful flourishes, ultimately performing a spectacular barrage in a drumming cadenza that literally lifted him off his feet."
The Enquirer , 4 December 2006
"Völliger Themenwechsel: "Trilogy", ein cooles Schlagwerk-Stück des Briten Dave Maric, von dem kühnen Percussionisten Colin Currie virtuos auf Marimba, Celesta und Art-Verwandten geschlagen."
"Complete change of theme: "Trilogy", a cool percussion piece by British composer Dave Maric, was given a virtuoso performance by the bold percussionist Colin Currie on marimba, celesta and related instruments."
Wiener Zeitung , 7 October 2006
"Another young British firework, the percussionist Colin Currie, drilled the wood blocks in Louis Andriessen's Woodpecker - a ferocious and exciting performance."
The Times , June 2006
"Currie is a consummate musician and an exciting performer to watch - he was certainly put through his paces by Mackey. Although the work centres primarily on the marimba, an exotic array of other instruments was also at hand to ensure the soloist was running the musical equivalent of a marathon. Throughout, there were bursts of jazz, pop riffs and rustic folk bits."
The Scotsman , November 2005
"Colin Currie ran lithely about the stage, summoning whispered arpeggiations from the marimba, icy chimes from the xylophone and a wild "battle-of-the-bands" drum solo toward the finale."
Washington Post , November 2005
"The performance elicited a cheering ovation for the extraordinary percussion soloist, Colin Currie, and for the composer…"
New York Times , December 2005
"…the music is nonstop in its energy. There are frenzied outbursts and flourishes for the soloist on the marimba, vibraphone, blocks and drum sets….it certainly provided a vehicle for the brilliant Mr. Currie, a limber, young virtuoso born in Edinburgh. He played the performance in an open-collared shirt and rubber-soled shoes - not just an outfit of choice but a practical necessity, since he had to dash across the stage repeatedly from the marimba to the drum set back to the vibraphone, and so on. The jazzy and vehement cadenza, played on the drum set, gave Mr. Currie his Max Roach moment."
New York Times, December 2005
"…the piece requires the soloist - Colin Currie - to be spread among several clusters of instruments (marimba, vibraphone, temple blocks and even bongos) out front in music full of extensive duets…"
Philadelphia Inquirer , November 2005
"The slow movement had wave after wave of ecstatic, intense color, with sound shapes created by bowing cymbals. Broad Coplandesque melodies commanded the ear, though everything around them went in unexpected directions."
Philadelphia Inquirer , November 2005
"Higdon is now said to be the second-most-performed of living American orchestral composers, trailing only John Adams -- and the standing ovation her concerto received was both full-hearted and seemingly all but unanimous."
Washington Post , November 2005
"The performance at the Classix festival by these friendly and world class musicians was both strong and dynamic and - contrary to all prejudice against new music - entertaining.
In the cheerful percussion piece Woodpecker the young British percussionist showed all of his virtuosity on different instruments. And André Jolivet's rhythmically dense, almost jazzy pieces, made some students move in their chairs."
The Star-Telegram , April 2005
"…Currie moved lithely, athletically and expressively through the menagerie of percussion instruments…"
The Star-Telegram , April 2005
"Percussionist Colin Currie's performance is partly gymnastic, partly ritual, always virtuosic and wholly extraordinary in its sense of musical exaltation."
The Buffalo News , February 2005
"Veni, Veni, Emmanuel closed the weekend, with a showstopping performance from the percussion virtuoso Colin Currie. I'd never thought that drums could be so lyrical, and the sight and sound of the orchestral players gently ringing in the Easter dawn on their little bells still packs a punch."
The Daily Telegraph , January 2005
"I could not but acknowledge the showmanship of the percussion concerto, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with the composer and a staggeringly dextrous soloist in Colin Currie."
The Sunday Times , January 2005
"Colin Currie's account of the solo part was a tour de force…"
The Evening Standard , January 2005
"This is MacMillan's early and exuberant percussion concerto, and it is easy to hear why it has become so popular. It evokes the ever-topical mix of religion and violence in slap-and-tinkle writing, which was dispatched here with panache by the soloist Colin Currie. He plays with far more nuance than many percussionists, and certainly finds more in the piece than the ubiquitous Evelyn Glennie, for whom it is written."
The Times , January 2005
"[the score that] fully gripped the imagination was the familiar, glamorous Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, with MacMillan conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Colin Currie the charismatic, athletic percussionist."
The Guardian , January 2005
"Currie moved confidently between each instrument, especially mellifluous on the tuned percussion, into which creeps a Hollywood-style filmic element. And though vividly dramatic, he avoided being raucous, as the work's climax erupts before the epilogue brings together the conflicting elements of wood, metal and skin in this subtle showpiece."
The Independent , January 2005
"…Currie led by example, arresting us with his effortless virtuosity and engaging personality."
The Scotsman, January 2005
"A starry young team, then, and what an evening they produced…starring the virtuoso Currie as principal soloist, the work develops a fascinating theatrical interplay between the solo player and his orchestral colleagues... He moves among his instruments with a lithe athleticism, playing with an enthralling flair and concentration which is quite gripping to observe.
Within each section of the work the main musical element is introduced by the principal soloist, before changing in structure, mood and colour as the entire orchestra is introduced. With mesmerising rhythmic patterns pulsating from side to side, sound flowing from left to right and back to front, Walker skilfully drove the work on at pace, to finish with a rather beautiful and peaceful ending, as all of the tonal colours of the title were brought together in final dissolution."
Sunday Herald, January 2005