IANNIS XENAKIS: “Okho”
Okho is scored for three djembes with a large bass drum. It was written to honor the bicentennial of the French Revolution. The djembe is a West African hand drum capable of deep booms, high pings, and everything in between. Composer Iannis Xenakis specifies the use of different parts of the performers’ hands, fingers, fingernails, and knuckles at various locations on the drumheads to elicit dozens of different sounds. These sounds are used to clarify a complex rhythmic architecture, carrying the three drummers through a variety of sonic environments. The same intellectual intensity that accompanies all of Xenakis’ works is present here, but this material flows intuitively. At this point in his career, hyper-organization was approached more as a habit than as deliberate practice and therefore seems to flow naturally from his pen like the improvisations of an African master drummer.
—Samuel Solomon, Percussion Ensemble Codirector
DERRICK SKYE: “Duet” (2017)
Duet (for any two instruments in the same key) explores modes, scales, and rhythms found in many different genres of music. Its primary purpose is to serve as an exercise/introduction to many of my other compositions.
—Derrick Skye, Composer
MAURCIO KAGEL: Rrrrrrr…
Rrrrrrr... consists of 41 autonomous pieces of music, beginning with the letter "R" and all are performable independently. The respective instrumental setting (organ; choir and piano; percussion duo; wind instruments, double basses, and percussion; solo voices; jazz combo) are all published in different volumes. A performance of all 41 pieces constitutes the Radio Phantasy Rrrrrrr....
Among Kagel’s works, Rrrrrrr... stands between instrumental music theater and more traditional concert pieces. Although it has the trappings of a more theatrical work—absurdity in theme, quasi-ritualistic, overtly serious performance style, and wild physical gestures—there is no overarching thematic arc or continuity between the six short movements. At times, Kagel mobilizes the physical act required to play percussion instruments as a means of teasing out a dramatic purpose (Railroad drama, ranz de vaches), but in other movements, the music itself is the art object, which undergoes aesthetic observation and multi-faceted criticism.
—Michael Compitello
1. Railroad Drama
A railway accident, derived from the railroad song.
2. Ranz Des Vaches (Kuhreigen)
From a Swiss cowherd's song, this is a melodious, narrative round dance common in the romanesque Alpine areas (German: Kuhreigen).
3. Rigaudon
An early French folk and social dance; a line and couple dance in a lively 3/4, 4/4, or alla breve meter, which arose in the 17th century from the folk dances of Provence and Langue d'oc, and is predominantly governed by crotchets and quavers, usually beginning with a crotchet upbeat. As a courtly dance, the rigaudon found its way into 17th/18th century ballet, opera, and instrumental suite, where it was frequently inserted between the sarabande and gigue. It is closely related to the bourrée and gavotte.
4. Rim Shots & Co.
A sharp drum stroke, resembling the report of a firearm, produced when the skin and rim are struck simultaneously with the drumstick.
5. Ruf (or ruffle): a triple stroke on the side drum, somewhat in the manner of a short roll.
6. Lutscher (Galopp)
(German: "slider") An early German folk dance; gallop.
—From Ferdinand Hirsch’s Wörterbuch der Musik, Berlin, 1977
ALEXANDRE LUNSQUI: “Shi”
For me, the world of percussion instruments has been an open door to a vast array of sonic explorations. Very often this door leads me to the kitchen or a warehouse store nearby.
—Alexandre Lunsqui, Composer
ALYSSA WEINBERG: “Ember II”
“Ember II” is a quartet for prepared snare drums that was composed for the percussion group, Sō Percussion. It is a delicate composition utilizing the ubiquitous snare drum in some unusual ways. Each drum is prepared with coins, a glockenspiel note, and one crotale. The performers also utilize specific parts of the drum head, rim and shell as well as sharing resonate bowls with one another to create beautiful and haunting effects.
—Jonathan Bisesi, Percussion Ensemble Codirector, and Dan Moore
JOHN CAGE: Imaginary Landscape, No. 2
Imaginary Landscape, No. 2 is scored for five percussionists playing tin cans, conch shell, ratchet, bass drum, buzzers, water gong, metal waste basket, lion’s roar, and an amplified coil of wire. John Cage composed the work in 1942 while living in San Francisco after working with the composer Lou Harrison, to whom the work is dedicated. Nicknamed “March 1,” this work is filled with thunderous sounds and a virtuosic solo cadenza. Cage’s composed Landscape is quite different from its nickname, as there aren’t any traits of a typical March throughout its entirety.
—Jonathan Bisesi, Percussion Ensemble Codirector