Who said the classical concert purrs?
We have just, a few days apart, had two experiences as singular as they are exhilarating, proving right the young Pierre Boulez who declared:
“Music must be collective hysteria and bewitchment.
»
Dedicated to Steve Reich, the 2024 Presence Festival, on Radio France, was one of the most festive editions, precisely in the sense of sharing a collective experience.
In studio 104 of the Maison de la radio, here is
Drumming
, for nine percussionists, composed by Reich in 1970 after a stay in Ghana.
A repeated note on a bongo.
Then a second.
And a third.
A rhythm is born, joined by a second percussionist, then a third... Soon, another note is added and the rhythm shifts to give rise to another.
Transcendent virtuosity
According to a very regulated ballet, our whirling dervishes move from bongos to marimbas, then to glockenspiels, adding variation of timbre to that of rhythm.
Quite quickly, we don’t…
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