Colin Currie - Press Reviews
Album: a table of noises by Simon Holt
This concerto, written for percussionist Colin Currie, is titled a table of noises, a reference to the taxidermist’s table of his great-uncle. Currie plays with forensic exactitude and mercurial brilliance.
Ivan Hewett, Daily Telegraph, 15 April 2017
Imagine a quixotic portrait of somebody’s taxidermist great-uncle. There could be musical pictures of a drawer full of eyes, or a display cabinet of stuffed animals, not to mention his dog, asleep standing up. This is Simon Holt’s affectionate, quick witted, sometimes haunting ‘a table of noises’ for percussionist, seated at a table with multiple instruments, and orchestra. Ever ready to shine, Colin Currie is the soloist in this entertaining work, composed in 2007.
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 31 March 2017
Commission: a table of noises by Simon Holt
It is a concerto full of vivid, prickly textures, drawn from an orchestra without violins in which extremes predominate, and with a pair of antiphonal piccolos often giving the sound a brittle sheen… Much of the solo writing is a model of restraint. The technical demands are high, yet there is none of the wham-bam virtuosity that disfigures most percussion concertos. What one takes away from the work is a delicacy, in the sense of the sounds all being drawn from that fund of memories; it ends quietly, nostalgically, the final tempo marked “as slow as trees”.
Andrew Clements, Guardian, 19 May 2008
Holt has produced one of his most likeable and subtly coloured scores.
Paul Driver, Sunday Times, 25 May 2008
Currie’s virtuosic performance confirmed that the percussion repertory has been enriched.
John Allison, Sunday Telegraph, May 2008
Album: Borrowed Time music by Dave Maric
…this is ultimately Currie’s disc and his playing, with its vibrancy and focus, is captivating throughout.
Daily Telegraph, September 2007