Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Penn Sounds: Settlement Music School

Distinguished Alumni Series
Philadelphia,March 6, 2005

Percussion! The word alone evokes the rhythm and vibration that make this essential to ensembles and very interesting when isolated. This program features Don Liuzzi, percussionist for the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as for the Network for New Music ensemble, performing a world premiere for timpani and percussion, three works by Maurice Wright, and a Bach Lute Sonata on marimba, as part of the Settlement Music School Distinguished Alumni Concerts.

Originally composed for solo lute, the Bach Suite in G Minor is an opportunity to hear how plucked strings translate into another medium � the hollow wood tones of marimba: and the answer is aptly and smoothly with the advantage of flowing and echoing notes.

The Philadelphia premiere of Alcobaca Suite (1997) by Kevin Erickson is for solo timpani, illustrating a Fourteenth Century Portuguese tragic love tale in three movements, the Court setting, Lament, and Dom Pedro's Revenge, timpani perfectly resonates the formal and dignified nature of the Court,and moves through the angry tones; five notes may seem too limited, but combinations and differing rhythm keep the texture interesting, and different mallets change the quality of the resonance while pedals alter the tones, making this the most interesting piece on the program.

Maurice Wright's Grand Duo for Percussion and Violin (2001) had Liuzzi performing with Hirono Oka, also of the Philadelphia Orchestra, with marimba, drums, wood blocks and bell in conversation with the violin, as each gradually took on the others' melodic and percussive attributes.

Rolando Morales-Matos joined Liuzzi for the world premiere of his composition Day and Night (2005) for timpani, djembes and percussion. The theme contrasts the quiet daytime life of a drummer with the active night. There is contrast also in the resonances in unison playing, as well as in the different ways to sustain tones. The composer brings a Latin intensity in the competitive fire of dueling drummers that envelop the listener in total rhythm.

Wright's 1985 Movement in Time included percussionist Tony Orlando for two percussionists and sampled orchestral sounds as a third partner with the full orchestral percussion section, in a study of the range of pitch and resonance. Wright also incorporates electronic sound in the 1982 Suite for solo percussion,
primarily marimba. Notes accrue incrementally in complex meters, in duet with Moog.

posted by Deborah Kravetz 3/15/2005