REVIEW: Terry Riley's 'In C', Wylam Brewery, Newcastle
RNS Moves & Candoco
RSN Moves is an ensemble of professional disabled musicians and non-disabled members of the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
On Sunday (March 15), under the direction of violinist Tristan Gurney, they performed at the welcoming (on a very cold night) Wylam Brewery, in Newcastle’s Exhibition Park, as part of The Glasshouse’s ‘out and about’ series of concerts.
The programme was a delightful mix of Bach, Caroline Shaw, Carl Bergstrom-Nielsen, Arvo Pärt and, of course, Terry Riley.
Riley is a Californian composer who, in his 90s, still blends minimalism with many other forms.
His In C, which was originally titled The Global Villages for Symphonic Pieces, was a pioneering piece in the 1960s with no underlying melody or repeated patterns.
The short melodic fragments are performed at the discretion of however many musicians are playing.
Riley was no stranger to working with dance and in his piece, members of the amazing Candoco Dance Company which, since the 1990s, has challenged perceptions of what dance is and who dancers can be.
Here they led the musicians around the central stage setting, improvising on their instruments whilst they moved.
Neither the amazing harpist Steph West, nor the inspirational non-sighted pianist Rachel Starritt, have mobile instruments but they found themselves either entwined with or surrounded by dancers as they accompanied this extraordinary work
It all made for a unique musical evening.
Jennifer Hinves