Percussion music

[Dave2002]

I am wondering about the percussion repertoire, and if there are many "classics" which we should be aware of. I have been trying to build up a collection of percussion recordings, and I wonder if I've almost exhausted the low hanging fruit.

I have recordings of some of the following, or have made efforts to listen to them:

Stockhausen: Zyklus
Xenakis:Rebonds A and B
Wuorinen: Symphony for percussion
Englund: Symphony for strings and percussion
Symphony for organ and percussion: Ritual: Douglas Reed
Rosenberg: Symphony for wind and percussion (Ostgota Symphonic Wind Ensemble)
Martinu: Concerto for cello, winds, percussion and piano ("")
Reich: Drumming
Siegfried Fink: Toccatina for 6 Percussionists
Christopher Rouse: Ku-Ka-Limoku, Continuum Percussion Quartet
Bartok: Music for strings percussion and celeste
Bartok: Sonata for 2 pianos and percussion
Bartok: Concerto for 2 pianos and percussion
Frank Martin: Concerto for 7 wind instruments, timpani and percussion.

I have also some compilation discs (or tracks thereof) such as the Impulse disc by the Percussion Ensemble Würzburg and other recordings by ensembles such as Percussion Ensemble Mainz and So Percussion - for example some of their Cage tracks - see http://sopercussion.com/

Maybe there'd be more discussion on some of the other boards/threads (Hear and Now, etc.), but there seems to be very little discussion about percussion music on this board.

I thought I'd kick off by suggesting a few pieces - as above.

[Pabmusic]

I am wondering about the percussion repertoire, and if there are many "classics" which we should be aware of.

Don't forget these true staples of the percussion repertory:

Bartok: Sonata For 2 Pianos & Percussion; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Stravinsky: A Soldier's Tale
Walton: Façade

[Dave2002]

Thanks for joining in - I spotted the omission of the Bartok pieces as I hit return, so they have been edited in. I didn't notice that the Walton and Stravinsky are significant for percussion.

[Pabmusic]

Thanks for joining in - I spotted the omission of the Bartok pieces as I hit return, so they have been edited in. I didn't notice that the Walton and Stravinsky are significant for percussion.

Oh they are. Both are chamber works that feature the percussionist as an equal member of the ensemble. Of course, by this I mean Walton's original, for flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, alto sax, trumpet, percussion (1 player), cello & reciter. The Stravinsky (which James Blades called a 'pearl' among percussion scores) is for clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, percussion (1 player), violin and bass.

There's this, too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtuoso-Timpani-Concertos-Christoph-Graupner/dp/B0006OS5T8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344156340&sr=8-1

There's also a Concerto pour batterie et petit orchestre by Milhaud. I don't know it, though. I do know Tabuh-tabuhan by the Canadian Colin McPhee. It dates from about 1930 and has the whole orchestra imitating a gamelan for a symphonic piece of about 16-17 minutes. Mercury recorded it in the 1950s, with Howard Hanson.

[Pabmusic]

There's quite a lot of Varese - Ionisation is the best known. Carlos Chavez as well

[Roehre]

Not mentioned yet:

Jurriaan Andriessen: Summerdances for percussion, harp and guitar (1966)
Balassa: Music for 4 percussionists (1969)
Boerman: Music for percussion and orchestra (1990)
Borkovsky: Spectra for percussion
Chavez: Toccata(1942)
Denissov: Ode for clarinet, piano and percussion (1968)
Goeyvaerts: Litany for 3 percussionists (1980)
Ishii: Piece for marimba and 2 percussionists(1969)
Landowski:Concerto for Ondes Martenot, strings and percussion(1954)
Loevendie; Duo for bass-clarinet and percussion (1989)
Mack: Lalangen for percussion
de Marez Oyens: Mixed feelings -for tape and percussion
Matthus: Concerto for percussion and orchestra "Manhattan Concerto"
Matthus Concerto for trumpet, percussion and orchestra
Norgard: I tsjing (1970)
Porcelijn: Requiem for percussion (1970)
Rijnvos: Stalker for percussion (1990)
Rodney Bennett: Concerto for percussion and orchestra (1990)
Schat: Signalement for percussionists op.14 (1961)
Stravinsky: Les Noces (with pianos as percussion)
ter Veldhuis: Sounds - for percussion ensemble (1975)
Xenakis: many pieces

[Serial_Apologist]

Hmm. I'm almost tempted to start a thread on Favourite Drum Solos on the Jazz Board... <strokes chin emoticon>

[Roehre]

Hmm. I'm almost tempted to start a thread on Favourite Drum Solos on the Jazz Board... <strokes chin emoticon>

Gene Krupa in Sing, sing, sing, July 6th 1937,
Benny Goodman and his orchestra

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And, of course:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XesrLIpMShI

... or, alternative performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHntTsE-5wQ&feature=related

... and, in rehearsal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=wTvzfP23zwk

Ferneyhough also wrote a brief, joyful Fanfare for Klaus Huber for two percussionists.

As for "other Xenakis pieces":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yge7GNl5p_k&feature=related

( ... played by the Master!)

and (the central work for Percussion Ensemble, IMO):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OqTYkLWCLA

[Dave2002]

Steven Schick

[LeMartinPecheur]

There's also a Concerto pour batterie et petit orchestre by Milhaud. I don't know it, though.

I've got a Glennie recording. Can't say it comes instantly to mind though: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...haud&x=20&y=24

Ooh, it's got the Rodney Bennett Concerto for solo percussion + ch orch that's been mentioned too. And Concertos by Rosaura and Miyoshi if that's your bag. Personally, despite hearing several live, I've come sadly to the conclusion that they can work live with the visual element of watching the player hurtle between instruments, but the only one I return to on CD for real thematic interest is Macmillan's Veni, veni Emmanuel.

[Pabmusic]

[Milhaud Concerto]...Can't say it comes instantly to mind though:winkeye

I often enjoy Milhaud, but only while it's playing. Once played, it's all too often gone from my mind, I'm afraid.

[Serial_Apologist]

Stomu Yamash'ta's percussion assaults on a car wreck in Henze's 1972 piece "The Tedious Way to the Place of Natasha Ungehauer" is well worth a mention here, I think.

[Dave2002]

Anyone else see Stomu Yamash'ta in the Roundhouse in the 1970s? What has he been doing since? Any good recordings?

[Byas'd Opinion]

A few more suggestions.

Purely percussion:
Stele and Tempus Ex Machina by Gerard Grisey

Percussion and orchestra:
Sally Beamish's Percussion Concerto
Air by Helmut Lachenmann
Kalevi Aho's Eleventh Symphony (for percussion sextet and orchestra)
Shostakovitch's Fourteenth Symphony (two singers, percussion and strings)

Moving away from the classical repertoire, there's Max Roach's percussion ensemble M'Boom