Although not alone, Steve Reich is certainly the best-known composer to write music that uses rhythm and pitch rather than melody in harmonic progression and who took inspiration from ritual drumming, speech and sound rather than the classics. Seventy this year, it is not surprising that there is a flurry of events marking Reich's achievement as a composer and innovator and the six-person group Six Strange Angels is touring with a programme highlighting his Sextet.

As the creation of Richard Benjafield and Chris Brannick formerly of Ensemble Bash, this new ensemble has prodigious musical talent and technical expertise; it is also much enhanced by the inclusion of composer Graham Fitkin and his partner Ruth Wall. The evening began with Fitkin's Totti, played by two keyboards and tuned percussion, which, though described as "a fairly straightforward piece", was nevertheless rich in colour and exuberant shifting patterns. The first set concluded with John Cage's Credo in US, composed in 1942 as a satirical gesture at European art music and a celebration of musical traditions in the US. Using tin cans, prepared piano and the modern equivalent of the phonograph and wireless (the laptop and mixing desk) this piece was by far the most angular, amusing and uncompromising, and it was somehow ironic that the musicians were reading from scores printed and bound by a respected publisher. It is remarkable how smoothly Cage has entered the world of musical respectability, though his music can still sound so challenging.

The finale of the evening, Reich's Sextet, breaks as much with the conventions of music but, by working from and enriching drumming patterns that are hundreds if not thousands of years old, creates a wonderfully shifting ground of notes and rhythms that is instantly comprehensible and exhilarating particularly when played by musicians as accomplished as Three Strange Angels. A joint event by Oxford Contemporary Music and The Jacqueline du Pr, this was a fine evening of new music from the 1940s to the present though it did leave me wondering where the Cages of the present are, and where I can go to find their music.