Concert Percussion for Orchestra

various artists compilation - Concert Percussion for Orchestra

From the liner notes:

The seven compositions recorded on this disc date from the pioneer Thirties and early Forties, when American music was making gigantic strides toward the honored place in the world arena which it occupies today. The percussion ensemble was new then, and its exploitation was a major challenge to composer and auditor alike. But, although the idiom of the percussion ensemble had little precedent in Western culture, it was not brought to being as the result of any whim.

Stravinsky stands, to some degree, behind all this music. His SACRE DU PRINTEMPS of 1913 had awakened human sensibilities to a new world of rhythm, and his HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT of 1918 had opened the door to a vast range of instrumental effect obtainable through the soloistic use of percussion instruments. Henceforth the percussion was not to be a mere orchestral condiment, and its progress toward independent status was hastened by the interest - so marked in the Thirties - in the percussion ensembles of Bali and Java and the even stronger interest - also characteristic of that time - in the music of Latin America, wherein percussion plays so large a part. It is no accident that the oldest piece on this record is by the late Amadeo Roldan of Cuba and that one of the works by William Russell of the United States is in a Cuban vein.

Jazz and its uses of rhythm and percussion are another element in this story, although a relatively slight one. Of much greater importance was the development in the theater known, rather loosely, as Modern Dance. Percussion music was ideal as accompaniment to this form of choreographic art, and several of the pieces on this record were originally composed for recitals thereof, either in direct association with the dances or as interludes between them. One of the composers represented here, Lou Harrison, was once active as a dancer and another, John Cage, remains to this day associated with the Modern Dance theater of Merce Cunningham.

TWO RITMICAS (1930) by Amadeo Roldan

Conductor: PAUL PRICE

Performers: Zita Carno - claves; Gerald Jacobosky - claves, quijada; Richard Allen - claves, cencerro; Michael Rosenberg - claves; Sal Buccola - guiro; Don DesRoches - maracas; Ray DesRoches - bongos; Edward Cornelius - timbales Cubanos; Warren Smith - timbales orquesta; Damon Buckley - bombo; George Boberg - marimbula

CANTICLE NO. 1 (1939) by Lou Harrison

Conductor: PAUL PRICE

Performers: Ray DesRoches - sistrum, tambourine, 3 wood blocks, 3 high bells; Michael Rosenberg - gourd rattle, 3 dragon's mouths, 3 large glass bells; Edward cornelius - wood rattle, 3 claybells, 3 cowbells, morache; Warren Smith - windbell, triangle, suspended cymbal, brake drum, thundersheet, bell, gong, tam-tam; George Boberg - 3 high drums, 3 low drums, 3 muted gongs

THREE DANCE MOVEMENTS (1933) by William Russell

Conductor: JOHN CAGE

Performers: Paul Price - small triangle, large triangle, dinner bell, bottle, anvil, tom-tom; George Boberg - finger cymbal, suspended Turkish cymbal, suspended Chinese cymbal, pair of cymbals, tom-tom; Ray DesRoches - small wood block, large wood block, snare drum, tom-tom, bass drum; Zita Carno - piano, slapstick

OSTINATO PIANISSIMO (1934) by Henry Cowell

Conductor: PAUL PRICE

Performers: Zita Carno and Charles Burkhart - string piano; Ray DesRoches - 8 rice bowls; George Boberg - marimba, xylophone; Edward Cornelius - tambourine, 2 wood blocks, guiro; Damon Buckley - bongo drums; Richard Allen - 3 drums; Gerald Jacobosky - 3 gongs

THREE CUBAN PIECES (1939) by William Russell

Performers: Edward Cornelius - cencerro, maracas, guiro; Paul Price - claves, quijada; George Boberg - marimbula; Ray DesRoches - bongo drums, cencerro

DOUBLE MUSIC (1941) by John Cage and Lou Harrison

Conductor: JOHN CAGE

Performers: Paul Price - 6 water-buffalo bells, 6 brake drums; George Boberg - 2 sistrums, 6 sleighbells, 5 brake drums, thundersheet; Ray DesRoches - 3 Japanese temple gongs, large tam-tam, 6 cowbells; Edward Cornelius - 6 muted gongs, large tam-tam, water gong

AMORES (1943) by John Cage

Performers: John Cage - piano; Paul Price - 3 high tom-toms, 3 high wood blocks; Ray DesRoches - 3 medium tom-toms, pod rattle, 2 medium wood blocks; George Boberg - 3 low tom-toms, 2 low wood blocks


Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Amadeo Roldan - Two Ritmicas: I. No. 6 Tiempo de Rhumba {1:46}

2. Amadeo Roldan - Two Ritmicas: II. No. 5 Tiempo de Son {2:25}

3. Lou Harrison - Canticle No. 1 {3:57}

4. William Russell - Three Dance Movements: I. Waltz {1:35}

5. William Russell - Three Dance Movements: II. March {1:37}

6. William Russell - Three Dance Movements: III. Fox Trot {1:08}

7. Henry Cowell - Ostinato Pianissimo {3:18}

Side B

1. William Russell - Three Cuban Pieces: I. Havannera {0:52}

2. William Russell - Three Cuban Pieces: II. Rhumba {0:43}

3. William Russell - Three Cuban Pieces: III. Tiempo de Son {0:43}

4. John Cage and Lou Harrison - Double Music {5:35}

5. John Cage - Amores {9:47}
I. Solo for Prepared Piano
II. Trio (Nine Toms-Toms, Pod Rattle)
III. Trio (Seven Wood Blocks, not Chinese)
IV. Solo for Prepared Piano

(1)