Colin Currie
Percussion
“Colin Currie's athletic playing was as dazzling and persuasive as the work itself.”
The Guardian, October 2009
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Colin Currie Group Drumming (credit: Debbie Scanlan) |
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Colin Currie Group Drumming (credit: Debbie Scanlan) |
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Colin Currie Group Drumming (credit: Debbie Scanlan) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie & Hakan Hardenberger (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie & Hakan Hardenberger (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie & Hakan Hardenberger (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie (credit: Marco Borggreve) |
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Colin Currie |
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Colin Currie (credit: Jessica Griffin) |
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Colin Currie |
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Colin Currie (credit: Jessica Griffin) |
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Concerto Repertoire Highlights
HK Gruber Rough Music
Colin Currie performed the US premiere of Rough Music in 2008, with the Saint Louis Symphony conducted by David Robertson.
Click here for a link to the publisher.
Please contact Rosamond de Vile for a detailed instrument list and stage plan.
Hear an extract from HK Gruber's Rough Music performed by Colin Currie and the MDR Leipzig Sinfonieorchester with the composer conducting.
With the Bern Symphony Orchestra conducted by HK Gruber
“Gruber’s work for percussion and orchestra, “Rough Music” refers to the custom of driving away unpleasant contemporaries with noise. The opening peaceful dialogue between percussionist Colin Currie and the orchestra degenerates into a battle. After soft marimba passages, Currie threw the orchestra to the wall with the drums…”
Berner Zeitung, May 2004
"In an era when the percussion concerto has come of age, it is surprising Rough Music has not achieved greater prominence, as it has few equals for subtlety and resourcefulness... From the blithely detached Toberac, through the engaging interplay of vibes and kit-percussion in the exuberance of Shivaree, to the emotional immediacy of Charivari, this is music pleasureable without excluding deeper connotations."
Gramophone, January 2007
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Jennifer Higdon Percussion Concerto
This exuberant concerto was commissioned for Colin Currie by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony and Indianapolis Symphony orchestras, premiered in the 2005/6 season including a performance at Carnegie Hall. Currie’s recording of the concerto with the London Philharmonic conducted by Marin Alsop won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Composition.
Click here for a link to the publisher. Click here for further information on the work.
Please contact Rosamond de Vile for a detailed instrument list and stage plan.
Click here to watch Colin Currie performing the cadenza from Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto.
Click on the link below to hear an extract from Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto featuring Colin Currie and the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop. Visit www.lpo.org.uk for more on this recording.
World Premiere tour to Carnegie Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach
“The performance elicited a cheering ovation for the extraordinary percussion soloist, Colin Currie, and for the composer. Once the first section really takes off, the music is nonstop in its energy. There are frenzied outbursts and flourishes for the soloist on the marimba, vibraphone, blocks and drum sets... And it certainly provided a vehicle for the brilliant Mr. Currie, a limber, young virtuoso born in Edinburgh.”
Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, December 2005
Canadian Premiere with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin
“People young and old spilled out from the exits at intermission with exclamations of amazement and delight. The buzz cascaded out to the lobby and sidewalk, where strangers accosted each other loudly with 'Wasn't that amazing?'. It is an experience not to be missed.”
John Terauds, The Toronto Star, October 2006
European Premiere with London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop
“Her concerto has rhythm, colour and sinew. It capitalises on the intoxicating blend of musicality, muscle and agility that is Currie’s forte... Whistles and whoops greeted this invigorating première. ”
Geoffrey Norris, The Telegraph, December 2007
“A brilliantly crafted, brilliantly theatrical, display piece for its splendid dedicatee, the British percussion soloist Colin Currie. Progressing from throbbing marimba through clattering woodblocks to a drum kit from hell, Currie always found beauty in precision. Elegance too.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, December 2007
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Simon Holt a table of noises
This inventive work was commissioned for Colin Currie by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, who gave the world premiere in 2008. Currie recently performed the US premiere with the Toronto Symphony and gives the London premiere at the 2010 BBC Proms. The piece won a British Composer Award in the orchestral category in 2009.
Click here for a link to the publisher.
Please contact Rosamond de Vile for a detailed instrument list and stage plan.
Hear an extract from the world premiere of Simon Holt's a table of noises, taken from the second movement, 'Fly'. Colin Currie performs the world premiere with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins.
At the BBC Proms in Simon Holt’s percussion concerto a table of noises with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Thierry Fischer
“The work, arranged in six main sections interspersed with cadenza-like passages, is complex in structure and must be the very devil for even a soloist of Currie's ability. In fact, he performed it with an authority that left mere virtuosity behind and turned everything into musical expression.”
The Guardian, July 2010
“What mattered was the series of enchanted musical worlds which Currie created, with taut, terse, high-pitched pings and pocks from wood, skin, and metal. The slimmed-down orchestra consisted of woodwind, brass, harp, strings, and xylophones, with which Currie’s own xylophone created celestial harmonies; at some moments we might have been in a Japanese Noh theatre.”
The Independent, July 2010
“It needs a performance of blazing precision and nervous tension – which is exactly what it got. Soloist Colin Currie was a miracle of cool-headed brilliance, flitting between xylophone and his taxidermist’s table of instruments with total aplomb.”
The Telegraph, July 2010
“As the piece opened, Currie measured out a rhythmic figure that, with the help of two strident piccolos, became the seed of a firm melodic idea. Sometimes Currie established possibilities that the ensemble developed around him; sometimes he followed, but the music’s inexorable forward motion and delight in unexpected sonorities were always clear. At no point was he called upon to batter the orchestra into submission; instead, he took his place before a different percussive option for each movement, now building up broken funk rhythms, now creating subtle undercurrents. Between each of the movements came a series of what Holt calls “ghosts”, passages during which Currie remained silent. Quietly intense, they emphasised how far from the conventional percussion concerto Holt had come.”
Evening Standard, July 2010
World premiere with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins
“Currie’s virtuosic performance confirmed that the percussion repertory has been enriched... Brittle, unsettling and full of bite."
The Sunday Telegraph, May 2008
“There are six movements, all vividly characterised… It is a concerto full of vivid, prickly textures. An outstanding premiere by Colin Currie with the City of Birmingham Symphony.”
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, May 2008
“Its premiere from Currie was fluent and assured, the complexities memorised and encompassed with impressive confidence.”
Birmingham Post, May 2008
“Holt has produced one of his most likeable and subtly coloured scores.”
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, May 2008
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James MacMillan Veni, Veni Emmanuel
Colin Currie has given around 100 performances of MacMillan’s concerto. He recorded the work for Naxos in 1998 and more recently for the Dutch Radio’s Quattro Live label conducted by James MacMillan (released 2011).
Click here for a link to the publisher.
Please contact Rosamond de Vile for a detailed instrument list and stage plan.
Click on the following link to hear Colin Currie an extract from James MacMillan's percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, taken from the Naxos disc with the Ulster Orchestra conducted by Takuo Yuasa.
With the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by James MacMillan
“Colin Currie’s account of the solo part was a tour de force.”
The Evening Standard, January 2005
“A showstopping performance from the percussion virtuoso Colin Currie. I’d never thought that drums could be so lyrical.”
The Sunday Telegraph, January 2005
At the BBC Proms with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins
“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
With the Royal Scottish Nation Orchestra conducted by Stefan Asbury
“Only a top-star rating could possibly be appropriate to Colin Currie’s playing of James MacMillan’s percussion concerto, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel. Numerous, seasoned professional musicians commented after Currie’s Glasgow performance that they had not heard a better account of the work... He applies playing of extraordinary detail and such unforced clarity that the concerto glows with the intimacy and transparency of chamber music.”
The Herald, December 2003
With the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds
“Rask, kraftfull, dynamisk musikk fremført med både virtuositet og eleganse av den forrykende perkusjonisten Colin Currie.”
“Quick, powerful and dynamic music, performed with both virtuosity and elegance by the tremendous percussionist Colin Currie.”
Bergens Tidende, Norway, September 2007
With the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln conducted by Douglas Boyd
“Solist Colin Currie war mit diesem Parade-Stück bereits über 100 Mal in aller Welt herum gekommen; von seiner enormen Erfahrung, und vom nahezu blinden Verständnis… Currie steuerte diese Stationen eine knappe halbe Stunde lang an, widmete sich ihnen jeweils mit Leib und Seele, feinfühlig oder virtuos, je nach Bedarf.”
“Soloist Colin Currie himself has already played this showpiece over 100 times around the world, and the Gürzenich Orchestra undoubtedly benefited from his vast experience, and his practically instinctive understanding… Currie dashed from one station to another for nearly half an hour, dedicating himself heart and soul to each instrument, with delicacy or bravado as required.”
Kölnische Rundschau, June 2008
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Einojuhani Rautavaara Incantations
Incantations was commissioned for Colin Currie by the London Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony and Tampere Philharmonic for the 2009/10 season. Further ahead, Currie will perform and record the concerto for Ondine with the Helsinki Philharmonic.
Incantations is published by Boosey & Hawkes. Click here for more information on the publishing details for this work.
For a detailed instrument list and stage plan please contact Rosamond de Vile at Intermusica.
Click on the link below to hear Colin Currie in an extract from the world premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara's Incantations. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Click here to read an interview with Rautavaara about Incantations.
US premiere with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu
“Percussionist Colin Currie jumped into the assignment with his usual, apparently effortless aplomb, darting back and forth between marimba and vibraphone, as well as a battery of drums, cymbals and bells. The sheer virtuosity of his playing was enough to hold the interest, but there was considerable musical value in the way the percussion battery was deployed throughout this taut concerto. Much of the writing is subtle, atmospheric, evocative.”
The Baltimore Sun, April 2010
World premiere with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin
"Rautavaara's concerto is dominated by a resplendent opening orchestral fanfare, which returns at the work's close. The solo part is not, as one had feared, a massive crash-bang-wallop drum extravaganza, but a delicate and luminous invention of great expressiveness, with the marimba and vibraphone carrying much of the solo writing. Colin Currie's athletic playing was as dazzling and persuasive as the work itself."
The Guardian, October 2009
“The weirdly dissonant shadowings in the woodwind, the misty string backdrop and the strange percussion glissandi made it rivetingly strange... The other very striking moment was the solo cadenza. This was composed by the soloist Colin Currie, who showed a real flair for translating Rautavaara's cold expressive climate into the inherently tropical sound-world of percussion... Currie played them with such artistry that they seemed almost inspired.”
The Telegraph, October 2009
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Christopher Rouse Der Gerettete Alberich
Currie has performed this engaging concerto with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony and the Orchestre National de Bordeaux.
Click here for a link to the publisher.
Please contact Rosamond de Vile for a CD recording, detailed instrument list and stage plan.
New World Symphony conducted by Marin Alsop
“British percussionist Colin Currie was a bold force of nature. Currie’s dazzling feats of rhythm, speed, and dexterity were riveting.”
The Miami Herald, April 2006
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kwamé Ryan
“He took his listeners on a fantastic journey that ended with an implosion of rock drumming... Scottish born Currie, 30, is an elegant performer who focuses attention on the music and not himself.”
The Cincinnati Post, December 2006
Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Bramwell Tovey
“Currie’s magnificent performance of the delirious cadenza was both thrilling and a bit nerve-racking.”
Los Angeles Times, August 2008
Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse (John Storgårds), Halle aux Grains, Toulouse
“Cette pièce déroule son dialogue entre un orchestre somptueux et un percussionniste virtuosissime qui court de la batterie jazzistique aux tambours, des cymbales au wood-block, de la grosse caisse au xylophone.”
“The piece unravelled a dialogue between the sumptuous orchestra and the supremely virtuoso percussionist, running from the jazz-style drum-kit to the kettle-drums; from the cymbals to the wood-block, from the bass drums to the xylophone.”
Classic Toulouse, April 2009
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Kurt Schwertsik Now you hear me, now you don't
This witty, small-scale concerto for marimba and strings was commissioned for Colin Currie by the Wigmore Hall and the Scottish Ensemble for premiere in 2009.
Click here for a link to the publisher.
Please contact Rosamond de Vile for a detailed instrument list and stage plan.
Hear the last momvement of Kurt Schwertsik's Now you hear me, now you don't, performed by Colin Currie and the Scottish Ensemble at Wigmore Hall.
World premiere with the Scottish Ensemble
“Now You Hear Me, Now You Don't was written in five discrete and carefully characterised "soundcards" for marimba and strings. It's quirkiness and occasionally elements of pastiche were characteristic of the composer, but so too were the subtlety and textural intricacy of his writing. Currie's dazzling mallet work negotiated the pitfalls with deceptive ease, and the interaction between the solo instrument and strings ebbed and flowed in accord with the title, sometimes placing the marimba out front; sometimes merging it into the texture.”
The Scotsman, February 2009
“The fourth movement dances towards its sharp conclusion, after much vertiginous playing from the Currie, on a buoyant rhetorical leap in the line from all the participants. With the audience clearly enjoying their efforts, the ensemble and Currie welcomed Schwertsik up to take applause, and then repeated the second movement as an encore, there revealing more fully its textural nuance.”
MusicalCriticism.com, February 2009
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