Reich Sextet, Music for Pieces of Wood, Clapping Music

The music on this CD is an excellent way of experiencing minimalism and its growth by sampling Reich’s music over a fifteen year period from 1972 to 1985… The performances and recording are excellent

Pieces of Wood is given an excellent rendition on this live recording, as if the precise mechanism of a complex clock had been carefully deconstructed before being pieced back together. The LSO percussion’s performance of Sextet (1985) also builds up in energy and momentum to a quite thrilling climax

A faultless account of what must surely be a most challenging piece for performers

The LSO recording has a gauzy quality that makes the work’s keyboard and percussion timbres (sometimes bowed) sound seamlessly blended

Three varied works make up this LSO Live’s anniversary disc: the omnipresent Clapping Music; the Music for Pieces of Wood…and the aurally seductive Sextet… Recording and performances from the LSO Percussion Ensemble are good

Reich provided one pair of hands, the LSO’s percussionist Neil Percy the other. It was intriguing to see how something so mechanical could be so revealing of character, and how the patterns appeared to change before our very ears

***** Performance ****½ Sonics (Stereo) ***** Sonics (Multichannel) ‘(Clapping Music) Neil Percy delivers an inspired performance alongside his LSO Co-Principal, Sam Walton… (they) deliver a faultless account of what must surely be a most challenging piece for performers…The immediate accessibility of the 'Sextet' aided by the brilliance of the LSO Percussion Ensemble's stunning playing will surely bring new converts to Reich's archetypal and iconic oeuvre…The recording vividly captures the clean acoustic of this venue with the 5.1 multi-channel mix adding just an extra degree of ambience to the sound…The performances and the recorded sound are so outstanding…Unreservedly recommended’