Modern and Contemporary

Weather Systems I – A Hard Rain
Steven Schick
Islandia Music Records IMR011 (islandiamusicshop.com)

The 2CD Weather Systems I: A Hard Rain features outstanding solo performances by Steven Schick (b.1954), a Percussion Hall of Famer who has long championed contemporary percussion music. The genesis of the album arose during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lockdown Schick revisited “the foundational works for solo percussion, many of which I have played for nearly 50 years.” This became the starting point for A Hard Rain. 

It opens with a vivid recording of John Cage’s 27’10.554” for a percussionist, a work Schick describes as “a rainforest of sounds: of water, earth, and air; of rip-sawn wood and ancient metal.”

Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Zyklus‘ use of the cycle motif appears in the spatial layout of the instruments: in a circle around the solo percussionist. I hear echoes of Cold War tensions in Schick’s nervous rendition. Morton Feldman’s The King of Denmark on the other hand is a world removed aesthetically from Stockhausen’s Euro angst, inviting the musician to approach the work with soft, spare, almost meditative gestures.

For his final track Schick uses only his voice to give a dramatic 32-minute performance of Ursonate (1922-32), Kurt Schwitters’ four-movement “sonata in primal sounds.” Schick collaborated with electronic musician Shahrokh Yadegari to present this milestone sound poem with the aid of effective interactive loops, layerings and treatments of his voice.

Schick writes that the non-sense of Schwtters’ Ursonate “is actually the language of crisis,” echoing the destruction of war, as well as serving as a post-Dadaist provocation. Coming after a program of signature solo percussion works, this tour-de-force version of Ursonate challenges listeners to expand their notions of what percussion music is – and can be.

Perspectives
Third Coast Percussion
Cedille CDR 90000 210 (cedillerecords.org)

Perspectives takes listeners on a stylistically wide-ranging, musically rewarding, journey. The opening four-movement Percussion Quartet by prolific film composer Danny Elfman effectively juxtaposes the warm wooden sound of the marimba with the sharp sounds of pitched metal pipes and tubular bells, the work very effectively rendered by Chicago’s Third Coast Percussion.

Philip Glass’ Metamorphosis No.1, originally for piano solo is here arranged for TCP. Beginning darkly with repeated low marimba eight-note chords, the arrangement blooms to include electronic organ, vibraphone, tubular bells, decorated with glockenspiel and crotales sparkles. A wistful major key melodica melody floats over the bubbling percussion along the way. 

Rubix is a playful three-movement collaboration between TCP and flutists Nathalie Joachim and Allison Loggins-Hull, collectively known as Flutronix. Rubix imaginatively overlaps the short sonic envelopes of keyboard percussion with the sustained melodies of the duo flutes.

Electronic music producer Jlin’s impressive seven-part Perspective highlights TCP’s conceptual, arranging and performing strengths. The work draws on a style of electronic music and dance known as footwork. Born in Chicago’s underground dance competitions and house parties it’s marked by hyper-fast tempos.

Perspective originated as a series of electronic tracks produced by Jlin. Collaborating with the composer, TCP arranged an imaginative performing score from that material scored for an acoustic batterie of over 30 (mostly) percussion instruments. The result is not only a feast for the ears and mind but sections with intense grooves are guaranteed to get you off the couch.

Sarah Bernstein – Veer Quartet
Sarah Bernstein; Sana Nagano; Leonor Falcon; Nick Jozwiak
New Focus Recordings Pan 26 (newfocusrecordings.com)

Sarah Bernstein is a violinist and composer exploring the boundaries of genres, mixing elements of jazz, the avant-garde, electronica and improvisation. On this album, she explores the more traditional sounds of a string quartet but not with a result that is at all traditional. Her six compositions range from the hectic and angular News Cycle Progression to the more lyrical Clay Myth with its broad, elegiac head, to Hidden where she flirts with minimalist arpeggiation and an unpredictable ending. 

My favourite track is the first one, Frames No.1: clear jazz references with a walking bass in the cello, solid grooves, and a simple form that gives soloing time to each of the four players. The string playing throughout is excellent though particular improv kudos go to Bernstein and cellist Nick Jozwiak who throws some surprisingly dense material into his solos. Bernstein often has the group accompany the solos with pizzicato: a nice device that sounds great. 

Four string players of this quality have to be classically trained so you won’t hear the sort of language you might expect from jazzers. What you do hear is a group of excellent musicians searching for something new. Bravo to that.

Listen to 'Sarah Bernstein – Veer Quartet' Now in the Listening Room

Andy Akiho – Oculus
Various Artists
Aki Rhythm Productions ARP-R008 (akirhythmproductions.bandcamp.com/album/oculus-2)

Andy Akiho is a rising star on the American new music scene. He’s a virtuoso player of steel pan drums, who, as a composer, has been nominated for big prizes like the Pulitzer and Grammy Awards. One can hear why: good ideas abound, and no section overstays its welcome. Akiho uses grooves not as a gimmick but as a way to drive you from one intriguing idea to another. 

Much of this tree-themed disc is taken up with his five-part LigNEous Suite for string quartet and marimba, played brilliantly by the Dover Quartet with Ian Rosenbaum. Akiho finds all kinds of ways to vary the marimba’s timbre, using bundles of sticks, wooden mallets, even an elastic band. The strings, too, are given effects like crunches, snaps, body knocks and glissandi, but even without all this colour the compositions are compelling: caffeinated, driving grooves, unpredictable codas, dark and brooding slow movements. 

Also included on the disc are Speaking Tree for string quintet, brass quintet and percussion, and Deciduous for violin and steel pan. The former features wonderful ensemble playing with more of Akiho’s groove-oriented but complex writing, including a delightful section with toy piano. At just over 15 minutes, Deciduous is the longest work on the disc and gives ample scope to Akiho’s spectacular pan playing, paired with Kristin Lee’s equally masterful violin performance in a duet filled with surprising colour and dash. The disc cover includes textural and evocative artwork by American photographer Stuart Rome.