The opening night of Manchester Classical 2025 offered a compelling tribute to one of contemporary music’s most influential figures. With conductor and percussionist Colin Currie leading the Hallé, and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood joining as performer and advocate, the evening focused on the hypnotic, layered world of Steve Reich.
The Bridgewater Hall witnessed a programme that pulsed with vitality and reverence. They delivered a vivid portrait of Reich’s extraordinary influence across musical boundaries.
Jonny Greenwood performs Reich with the Hallé
The evening opened with Clapping Music, a piece that epitomises Reich’s ingenuity. Two performers, two hands each, and an ingenious pattern that gently slides out of phase. Colin Currie and David Hext (Principal Percussionist of the Hallé) executed it with breathless precision and a kind of kinetic joy.
Despite its simplicity on paper, the piece demands the utmost concentration and sensitivity. Currie, who spoke before the performance about Reich’s flamenco inspiration behind the work, brought both technical control and palpable energy to the piece.
The genius of Reich is his ability to turn minimal ingredients into maximal emotional power. This was clear as the Hallé transitioned into Runner, a ballet for large ensemble that the New York Times aptly described as “a calmly luminous orchestral piece.” From the very first bars, a sense of unstoppable momentum surged through Bridgewater Hall. Strings, winds, pianos, and percussion interwove with elegance, layering rhythmic pulses.
Greenwood’s contribution brought a grounding presence. Watching him blend into the fabric of the ensemble was a reminder that he is far more than a rock musician moonlighting in the classical world: he is a true musical polymath.
Pulse by Steve Reich
Pulse, perhaps the evening’s emotional core, followed. This 15-minute work, scored for winds, strings, piano, and electric bass, is one of Reich’s most meditative compositions, and in the hands of the Hallé it shimmered with emotional clarity.
“It’s full of joy, tension, sadness, all the colours are there,” Greenwood had noted before the concert, and the performance revealed exactly that spectrum. Built around gently undulating melodies and wide-open harmonic spaces, it invited the audience into a soundworld that felt at once grounded and transcendent.
Greenwood, who played the notoriously unwieldy five-string bass in this piece, admitted beforehand that it comes with “the shame of playing a five-string bass” but acknowledged its power: “It goes a fourth lower in pitch than a standard bass… It’s a good sound.” And what a sound it was—deep, resonant, a heartbeat anchoring the ensemble’s shimmering surface. The interplay between his part and the Hallé’s tender phrasing revealed Greenwood’s deep affection for Reich’s music, one born not just from admiration, but understanding.
Currie, a lifelong champion of Reich’s work, brought a clarity of vision to the entire programme. In an interview before the performance, he reflected on curating the programme: “As soon as [the 2024 festival] was over, we began talking about how we could do it again… not quite symphonic in scale, but still a powerful collection.” This year’s edition felt more intimate, but no less impactful, offering a deeply personal journey through Reich’s most emotionally resonant compositions.
Variations for Vibes, Piano and Strings
The final piece of the night, Variations for Vibes, Piano and Strings, encapsulated the night’s spirit: joyful and rhythmically dazzling. Originally commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, this piece sparkled in Currie’s hands. The shifting accents and irregular phrasing never once felt academic or mechanical. Instead, they danced, buoyant and alive. The Hallé played with luminous articulation, particularly in the strings, who responded to Currie’s direction with fluidity and warmth.
In his onstage remarks before the show, Currie emphasised the African and flamenco roots that course through Reich’s rhythmic vocabulary. He reminded the audience that Reich’s fieldwork in Ghana wasn’t just tracing the original, but transformation, absorbing rhythmic traditions and transmuting them into something uniquely his own.
“He’s unmistakably making them his own,” Currie said, and you could hear that in every bar of the night’s programme.
The bond between Greenwood and Reich was also central to the evening. As Currie noted, “While [Greenwood’s] career and Radiohead’s career would certainly exist without Steve Reich, it wouldn’t be the Radiohead we know and love today.” Greenwood was similarly candid: “I’ve certainly stolen phasing ideas in songs like Let Down and Arpeggi,” he admitted. Yet it’s not theft, it’s homage and a dialogue between the works.
Manchester Classical 2025
Manchester Classical has established itself as one of the most welcoming and exciting festivals in the UK. With concerts like this, generous in spirit and intellectually fearless, it’s no surprise.
In his interview, Greenwood praised The Halle and venue alike: “There’s nothing like the sound of live players… and you’re very lucky to have an orchestra as good as the Hallé.” He’s right. The sound at Bridgewater Hall is world-class, but it’s the synergy between performer, music, and audience that made this night unforgettable.
Perhaps the most moving aspect of the evening was how alive everything felt. Greenwood’s final words in his interview stayed with me long after the applause had faded: “Recordings are… just degrees of badness. Live, you have the combination of a better sound, AND the peril that it can go wrong. It won’t, I think, but like watching a band play live, you know your ears are the only ones really experiencing the music in that transient moment.” And that is precisely what Manchester Classical 2025 delivered.
Get tickets for Manchester Classical 2025
Manchester Classical 2025 is on all weekend at the Bridgewater Hall, with many free events suitable for all the family. This is not something you want to miss!
