Search - Per Norgard, Steve Reich, Wayne Siegel :: Bach to the Future

Something to be desired

Dr. Christopher Coleman | HONG KONG | 11/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Safri Duo consists of two percussionists; Uffe Savery and Morten Friis; and recently they've turned to performing pop music. But much of their earlier work was in the area of contemporary art music, and it is from that area that this disc appears. Five compositions by four composers are included: Per Norgard's Bach to the Future for percussion duo and orchestra; Steve Reich's Nagoya Marimba and Music for Pieces of Wood; Wayne Siegel's 42nd Street Rondo; and Jacob ter Veldhuis's Goldrush Concerto, again for percussion duo and orchestra.



Norgard's concerto, Bach to the Future, is a twenty minute fantasy on three Bach Preludes from The Well-Tempered Clavier; there's a certain playful fascination in hearing notes from the C major prelude spread out among some unusual orchestral combinations, like muted trumpet, vibraphone, and violin. Purists will of course be horrified, and some of us will be amused, but I suspect that the most common reaction will be indifference. Other Norgard pieces, especially I Ching for percussion solo, are so much more intriguing.



The two Reich pieces similarly fail to inspire. I'm not a big fan of Nagoya Marimbas, and I have to report that while the Safri Duo play the notes and rhythms superbly, the dynamics are too restrained and the piece comes off less well than it might. It's in the Music for Pieces of Wood, though, that the Safri Duo do the most harm. This composition is for five percussionists each playing a set of tuned claves. Claves a pair of hard wood sticks struck together with a very crisp, incisive sound; one stick rests on the fingers of the closed (left) hand, and the other is held in the right hand and struck against it. Safri Duo, in a display of bravado, play all five parts themselves, presumably without overdubbing; consequentially they cannot play the piece on the instruments it is written for. They substitute log drums, wood blocks, temple blocks and the like, and the piece loses much of its special charm as a result. I suppose that in these instrumental substitutions they're doing something of what Per Norgard does to Bach's music, but at its best Norgard's arrangements have an enriching effect while this substitution has the opposite effect.



Wayne Seigel's 42nd Street Rondo is a five minute duet in which each performer has a matching set of mixed, untuned percussion instruments. The composer writes: "the title refers to the conrner of 42nd Street and Broadway in Manhattan, where street musicians often perform" and the composition demonstrates this rhythmic street vitality. This is one of my favorite pieces on the disc; others will surely be driven to distraction by it. Its somewhat similar to the sound world of the percussion group Stomp who play lots of "found percussion" instruments.



Jacob ter Veldhuis's Goldrush Concerto is the longest piece on the CD. It was generated by one of Veldhuis's earlier compositions, "Gold Rush". The Safri Duo make their way through a large number of percussion instruments, including a drum machine that plays voice samples from films such as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I must admit that I find these voice samples extremely disturbing and out of place in the sense of the piece--I'm sure they're supposed to be amusing, but they upset the whole feel of the work for me. Otherwise, the Goldrush Concerto is a lively, well-written piece that is quite attractive with a terrifically exciting finale, and which features some amazing performances.



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Bach to the Future

Dr. Christopher Coleman | 05/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent CD with great compositions, and wonderful sound! An excellent addition to any percussion CD collection."