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Jonny Greenwood plays Reich's Electric Counterpoint with the Hallé
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Photo: Raph_PH · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsJonny Greenwood was the soloist in Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on Saturday 3 February, the last of three concerts in the Hallé's Steve Reich festival. The percussionist Colin Currie curated the festival at the Hallé's request and conducted it, his debut as a symphonic conductor, and he asked Greenwood in as a guest on an otherwise orchestral programme. He immediately jumped to the chance when I invited him.
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The piece runs in three movements, fast, slow and fast, without a break. Ryan Walker, reviewing the night for Louder Than War, singled out Greenwood's melodic lines in the slow middle movement and the drive of his chords in the last.
The Hallé's Steve Reich festival, February 2024
| Date | Venue | Programme |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 1 February | Bridgewater Hall | The Desert Music (with the RNCM Chamber Choir), Music for Pieces of Wood, Music for Ensemble and Orchestra |
| Friday 2 February | Hallé St Peter's | Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ, Mallet Quartet, Radio Rewrite |
| Saturday 3 February | Bridgewater Hall | Clapping Music, The Four Sections, Electric Counterpoint (Jonny Greenwood, guitar), Reich/Richter |
Radiohead's songs were in the Friday concert too. At Hallé St Peter's, the orchestra's converted church in Ancoats, Currie led Hallé players and students from the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham's School of Music in a sold-out chamber programme that included Radio Rewrite, the piece Reich built from “Everything in Its Right Place” and “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”. Reich began it after hearing Greenwood play Electric Counterpoint at the Sacrum Profanum festival in Krakow in 2011.