A review of the fourth RTÉ Living Music Festival which featured the music of Steve Reich.

The RTÉ Living Music Festival, Various venues, Dublin, 17-19 February 2006
Featured Composer: Steve Reich
Artistic Director: Donnacha Dennehy

Variations for Winds, Strings, and Keyboards ended the first half of the opening concert of the 2006 RTÉ Living Music Festival and what followed was no ordinary standing ovation. Instead, this was the first opportunity for an Irish audience to acknowledge and thank one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists. As Steve Reich stood on the stage of the National Concert Hall, wearing that famous baseball cap and politely thanking both audience and orchestra, I realised that this festival would be both a retrospective and an introduction to the most influential and loved of all...