For around 20 years after its premiere in April 1976, Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians remained largely within his own ensemble’s purview, touring the work extensively and releasing recordings on the ECM and Nonesuch labels in 1978 and 1998. Now there are almost as many recordings by different groups as the 11 chords that punctuate the pulse sections at the beginning and end of Reich’s landmark composition.

This latest recording by the Colin Currie Group and Synergy Vocals is likely to raise a few eyebrows but the Scottish percussionist has never been afraid to stamp his own mark on things. In the opening ‘Pulses’ section, the 11-chord statement is ever so slightly staggered between clarinets, percussion, pianos, female voices and strings. The character and timbral quality of each individual group is thus introduced from the beginning – a quite radical departure from previous recordings, which have tended to emphasise a homogeneous sound quality.

This approach is maintained throughout the work’s 11 interconnected sections. Gradual rhythmic and melodic build-ups are executed precisely, with assertive entries heard in clarinets and voices in Sections I and XI, while polymetric sparks fly off the wooden bars and keys of xylophone and piano in Sections II and VIII. Currie’s Baroque-style concertante approach places greater emphasis on foreground and background textures, melody plus accompaniment. The four pianos in Section V, whose patterns draw from Reich’s earlier Violin Phase, are treated like a quartet of solo instruments, while important structural moments are given further emphasis, imbuing the music with an added sense of goal-direction.

Tempo fluctuations are more noticeable here, too, certainly in comparison with the rock-steady approach of Ensemble Modern (RCA, 6/99) and Ensemble Signal (Harmonia Mundi, 7/15). Currie’s group slow down a little by the time we get to Section IIIA but then speed up in IX to such a point that one wonders how the ending will work. That they manage to do so via a series of streamlined transitions back to the opening pulse is testimony to the impeccable musicianship and collective musical understanding that’s evident throughout, with Synergy Vocals’ contribution under singer and director Micaela Haslam a crucial element in the recording’s success. Reich once said that ‘any music that can’t work in a number of ways will shortly disappear’. There’s certainly no danger of it happening with Music for 18 Musicians, which sounds as wonderfully fresh and innovative as it did almost 50 years ago.