On 26 May Colin Currie performed Tansy Davies’ Dark Ground for solo percussion at Wigmore Hall. On 7 August he will present the piece at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival – its second performance in the United States – and part of a programme including works by Xenakis, Andy Akiho, Dani Howard, Toshio Hosokawa, Kevin Volans and David Horne. The celebrated percussionist released a new recording of the work on his own label in February 2025 – listen here; it follows a 2021 film of him performing the work at home.
Currie calls Dark Ground “stridently disquieting …it seems it could be a pop-style drum-kit that is to hand for the music, but conflicting sounds from another kind of place are never far away…a fascinating work that plays skilfully with one’s percussive preconceptions.” In the 8-minute piece everything grows up from a root - the pedal Bass Drum - a dead sound, cycling in a simple yet deceptive 7/8, with a pitched interlude courtesy of a set of crotales. Composed for Joby Burgess in 2005, it draws on influences as diverse as Xenakis and Prince and features an open instrumental set up to be determined by its performers.
Currie previously performed the piece at Wigmore Hall in 2019 and at Bold Tendencies in 2021. Davies is currently working on a Percussion Concerto for Currie, to be premiered in the summer of 2026.