Boswell Centre, Auchinleck
In the second leg of its current Scottish Tour, the Colin Currie Quartet found itself pounding the beat, literally, in Auchinleck on a sunny Saturday night. Were they a delicate string quartet, the experience might have been diminished by the counterpoint of children screaming happily in the play area immediately outside the town’s amenable Boswell Centre.
But Currie’s ensemble is, as most of this East Ayrshire town will now know, an all-percussion collective with the fire power to overcome the most rumbustious opposition. No competition? Well, almost. One dramatic musical silence gave way to a shrill playground countdown, one of those lighthearted moments where chance interruptions turn to memorable highlight.
Little in this compelling programme, promoted by the Cumnock Tryst Festival as part of its extended year-round activity, proved anything less than compelling. The mere sight of these four black-shirted virtuosi – Currie himself, Owen Gunnell, Adrian Spillett and Sam Walton – huddled in successive configurations, was powerfully visceral, given the physicality involved and the heated communication between them.
The two opening pieces by American percussionist and composer Andy Akiho were from his trailblazing Seven Pillars project, their accumulating might coloured by intricate rhythmic conversations and textures tickled by the curiosities posing as instruments – empty wine bottles, a kitchen sieve and much more bric-a-brac besides. What these guys can’t do with everything but the kitchen sink simply isn’t worth talking about.
What the young Scottish composer (and accordionist) Aileen Sweeney has done with her new work Starburst is well worth mention. This was the subtlest music-making of the evening, opening with the gentle unfolding of a basic motif on delicate hand chimes, reaching its highpoint with a hypnotising rock groove, before unwinding to a hushed conclusion. It gave short shrift to the notion that all percussion playing carries a health warning.
In Dave Maric’s nature-inspired Nascent Forms for mallet instruments the emphasis on quick fire repetition was mesmerising in itself, the performance scintillating for its dextrous precision and intoxicating interaction. For their send-off, the quartet turned to four drum kits and the Reich-like adrenalin rush of Julia Wolfe’s Dark Full Ride. Yes, it veered towards the deafening at times, but with a sense too of artful exhilaration as this dazzling floor show powered towards its final emphatic thump.
Cumnock Tryst founder and artistic director also used this celebrity occasion to announce his plans for the 10th Festival Programme, which runs from 2-6 October, one day longer than previous events. Among the artists featuring will be pianist Steven Osborne, British tenor Joshua Ellicot, the excellent Maxwell Quartet, folk music from Alastair Savage and Friends and locally-based Seán Gray, and jazz from the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra and The Euan Stevenson Trio. Local groups also feature, notably the Tryst Festival Chorus and Dalmellington Brass Band among others in a special Tenth Birthday Gala Concert.
MacMillan also announced the launch of a new Cumnock Tryst Ensemble, consisting of some of Scotland’s finest classical musicians, led by cellist, improviser and composer Christian Elliott.
Ken Walton
The Colin Currie Quartet continues its current tour in Castle Douglas (27 April) and Biggar (28 April). Details at www.colincurrie.com
Full details of this year’s 10th Cumnock Tryst Festival are available at www.thecumnocktryst.com