“Most people never get the chance to change the world – it is really hard!” This is David Lang writing in the sleeve notes of Ensemble Signal’s new recording, acknowledging the rare predicament faced by fellow American composer Steve Reich: “If you are one of those people who changes the world, what do you do next?” Reich turns 80 in October and Signal’s tribute is a buoyant disc of two fairly recent pieces, both scores full of finesse and detail, both still bobbing to that definitively Reichian thrum that was once so game-changing. Six musicians play against recordings of themselves in the Double Sextet (2007) while snippets of Radiohead songs are woven through Radio Rewrite (2013) – a neat gesture from a composer whose influence on contemporary art rock is inestimable. Conductor Brad Lubman keeps the music lucid and elegant, if rather low-key; you’ll find peppier recordings of both works, but I enjoyed the warm sounds and lack of hysteria here.
