Open Percussion

Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen - Open Percussion

released in 2002

Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen - percussion and voice

Unlike other instruments, it is impossible to say that percussion is a specific instrument. Indeed one may argue that percussion is not even a group of instruments but numerous different groups. In total, percussion instruments range over the primary acoustic categories of sounds: stone, wood, metal and skin. The variations in size and shape, expression and sound are enormous and surely unique in acoustical music - from cymbals the size of an ear and objects of stone and wood to gigantic drums and gongs as well as tempered instruments such as vibraphone, marimba and glockenspiel.

This enormous arsenal of sonic possibilities has long fascinated composers; all the more so since the early works of Edgar Varese, Henry Cowell and John Cage. Besides the extended range of sonorities, what is new in composing for percussion lies in the possibility of distilling the pulse and rhythmical aspects of the music. Rhythm is in many respects just as complex a phenomenon as melody and harmony. In the pieces by Iannis Xenakis and Rolf Wallin on this disc it is the development of the rhythm and the sonorities that expand or bring the music to life. The rhythmical processes create tensions, relaxations, even pulses or chaotic surfaces. While in the pieces by Franco Donatoni and Ase Hedstrom there are also harmonic and melodic processes at work, here too the rhythmical progress is essential as a structural and expressive element of the musical tempus. With Cage one is more conscious of cyclical, repetitive rhythms. The works on this disc thus give us an understanding of the fascinating variety of writing for percussion. At the same time it is a programme which places great demands on its performer, demands for rhythmic and sonic precision in order to take us from the chaotically pulsating to the softly moving; from the extrovertly explosive in Xenakis and Wallin to the introvert and theatrical in Cage. (Henrik Hellstenius)Tracklisting:

1. Rebonds: I {7:19}
composed by Iannis Xenakis for percussion solo (1987-89)

2. Rebonds: II {6:59}
composed by Iannis Xenakis for percussion solo (1987-89)

3. Open I {5:12}
improvisation by Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen

4. Flow {7:44}
composed by Ase Hedstrom for marimba (1990)

5. The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs {3:05}
composed by John Cage for voice and piano (1942)

6. Omar: I {5:42}
composed by Franco Donatoni for solo vibraphone (1985)

7. Omar: II {8:55}
composed by Franco Donatoni for solo vibraphone (1985)

8. Open II {2:52}
improvisation by Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen

9. A Flower {3:47}
composed by John Cage for voice and piano (1950)

10. Stonewave Part 1 {8:40}
composed by Rolf Wallin, version for solo percussion (1990)

11. Stonewave Part 2 {4:54}
composed by Rolf Wallin, version for solo percussion (1990)

12. Open III {3:56}
improvisation by Hans-Kristian Kjos Sørensen

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