Ensemble Matisse: Keys and Coffee Concert Series at The Forge

Ensemble Matisse presents an enticing programme of 20th-century gems. Steve Reich remembers sounds of old New York jazz, Schnittke pays his respects to Shostakovich and Bach and Huw Watkins transports the audience to a dreamworld. It's all rounded off by Khatchaturian's exotic trio. Steve Reich's hypnotic and fascinating New York Counterpoint for Clarinet and Tape is representative of the composer's early minimalist style and uses his technique of 'phasing' to mesmerising effect. Also featuring recorded tape, Alfred Schnittke's In Memoriam is haunted by the ghosts of Shostakovich and Bach. Huw Watkin's work for trio, 'Dream', explores that other world of our unconscious mind. Then back to reality with Khatchaturian's earthy yet exotic Trio of 1932, written while the Armenian composer was still a student at the Moscow Conservatoire.