London Sinfonietta play Reich and Adès, Royal Festival Hall, by Gabriel Kellett
Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre
February 18, 2011
Steve Reich
Tehillim
Thomas Adès
In Seven Days
Thomas Adès, conductor
Synergy Vocals, singers
Nicolas Hodges, piano
This is the first of a series of London Sinfonietta concerts to be guest conducted by Adès over the next month, including touring performances outside London where his piano concerto In Seven Days is coupled with a different Reich piece, Music for 18 Musicians. It was less than 18 months ago that the Sinfonietta performed that work at the Southbank Centre with a live relay open to all in the foyer, which proved very popular; rather than have to match that performance, I think they have made a canny programming choice by enticing some of the potential new audience gained by that concert with a less famous piece by the same composer. The combination of two Biblically-inspired pieces in this concert is also arguably a more interesting and appropriate pairing.
