The best of Evelyn Glennie

Five essential albums to explore

James Macmillan

Veni, Scottish Saraste Veni, RCA Chamber Emmanuel G010001846447Z Orchestra/jukka-pekka etc.

Though debut album, not Glennie’s it was this premiere recording of James Macmillan’s riotous and exuberant showpiece, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, that truly launched her international career.

Martland Street Songs; plus works

by Klatzow, David Horne etc.

The King’s Singers RCA G010000245012M Steve Martland, something of a brutalist maverick among British composers, showed a more urbane side to his creativity in this remarkable collaboration with Glennie and The King’s Singers.

Erkki-sven Tüür

Symphony No. 4, ‘Magma’

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra/

Paavo Järvi Erato 385 7852

One of Glennie’s most charismatic outings, with what BBC Music Magazine’s reviewer described as ‘an intoxicating physical score’, its awe-inspiring climaxes caught in demonstration sound.

John Corigliano Conjurer

Albany Symphony Orchestra/david Alan Miller Naxos 8.559757

Another remarkable showpiece for Glennie, and also for the family of percussion instruments, of which each branch – wood, metal and skin – is showcased individually.

Ecstatic Drumbeat: Works for Percussion and Chinese Orchestra

With Tzu-you Lin, Tsung-hsin Hsieh et al

BIS BIS-SACD 1599

Glennie has frequently collaborated with percussionists from non-western musical traditions; here is one of her more recent and most seductively recorded results.