Reich: Sextet - Clapping Music - Music for Pieces of Wood London Symphony Orchestra Percussion Ensemble

• Steve Reich (b.1936):
• 1Clapping Music03:36
• 2Music for Pieces of Wood11:41
• 3Sextet: I. quarter note = 19211:08
• 4Sextet: II. quarter note = 9604:32
• 5Sextet: III. quarter note = 6402:34
• 6Sextet: IV. quarter note = 9603:32
• 7Sextet: V. quarter note = 19206:00
• Total Runtime43:03

Info for Reich: Sextet - Clapping Music - Music for Pieces of Wood

LSO Live explore the music of America’s most influential living composer with performances of three of his most iconic works: Sextet, Clapping Music and Music for Pieces of Wood.

Employing Reich’s universally recognisable sound-world, Sextet uses hypnotic repetitions of a sequence of harmonies, which gradually overlap and interweave, resulting in a complex yet utterly compelling musical landscape. Introducing more dissonance and aggressive rhythms than previous compositions, the relationship of the five movements is that of an arch form, A-B-C-B-A. Changes in tempo are made abruptly at the beginning of new movements by metric modulation and sections are also organised harmonically with a chord cycle for the first and fifth. Reich says of the work – ‘The ambiguity here is between which is melody and which is accompaniment. In music that uses a great deal of repetition, I believe it is precisely these kinds of ambiguity that give vitality and life’.

Composed in 1972, Clapping Music strips back to the bare essentials, taking traditional African rhythms as its starting point. Conceived from a desire to compose music ‘that would need no instrument beyond the human body’ it is perhaps the most elemental example of phasing in the composer’s catalogue. The whole work consists of a single rhythmic cell which becomes staggered as the work progresses, creating an entrancing and hypnotic effect. Having previously performed the work with the composer, Neil Percy, LSO Principal Percussionist, delivers an inspired performance alongside his LSO Co-Principal, Sam Walton.

Music for Pieces of Wood takes this concept a step further, adding pitches, in the form of claves tuned A, B, C#, D# and D# an octave above. The claves are chosen for their resonant timbre and the piece is one of the loudest the composer has written, despite using no amplification whatsoever.

Neil Percy, says of his relationship with these pieces and the composer – ‘The thing I enjoy most about playing the music of Steve Reich is its diversity, its complexity, its challenging nature… We’ve played so many pieces of Steve’s over the years with him being present, so it’s got a very personal set of challenges that I find completely irresistible. That’s why, on this particular project for LSO Live, we tried to put together a programme that reflected all of the pieces that the group themselves really like to play.’

„Pieces of Wood is given an excellent rendition on this live recording, as if the precise mechanism of a complex clock had been carefully deconstructed before being pieced back together. The LSO percussion s performance of Sextet (1985) also builds up in energy and momentum to a quite thrilling climax“ (Gramophone)

„The LSO Percussion Ensemble s riveting recording [of Music for Pieces of Wood] has the bonus of being live. Moreover, they take it very fast indeed...and accomplish it brilliantly. I ve found Sextet heavy and congested in the past: not here. They achieve a wonderfully transparent weave through which the bowed marimba notes shine like rays of light through water.“ (Hellen Wallace, BBC Music Magazine)

Neil Percy, drums, percussion
LSO Percussion Ensemble

Neil Percy
The coming year sees Neil enjoying the joint milestone of 20 years as Principal Percussionist of the London Symphony Orchestra and 12 years as Head of the Timpani and Percussion Department at the Royal Academy of Music. During this time, Neil has worked closely with many major artists and conductors and as a soloist with Sir Colin Davis, Pierre Boulez, Steve Reich, Karl Jenkins, Ravi Shankar, Kent Nagano and Elgar Howarth.

The EMI recording of Karl Jenkins Marimba Concerto and Triple Concerto for Percussion, Flutes and Keyboards, was released recently to wide critical acclaim, as was the Grammy nominated Bartok Concerto for 2 Pianos and Percussion for Deutsche Grammophon with Pierre Boulez, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Tamara Stefanovich, Nigel Thomas and the LSO.

In both live and studio situations, Neil has worked closely with many composers for film scores, notably John Williams, James Horner, Patrick Doyle, and Alexandre Desplat with their music for films such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, Braveheart and Twilight-New Moon.

Neil has also enjoyed working with many major pop and jazz artists including Herbie Hancock, Elvis Costello, Natalie Cole, Dave Brubeck, Joe Zawinul, Tony Bennett, Luther Vandross and Vince Mendoza.

Neil collaborated with Tim Garland in a star studded nine-piece group ‘Momentum’, including amongst others John Patitucci, Joe Locke and Geoffrey Keezer. Momentum returned in Autumn 2010, culminating in a joint concerto for saxophones and percussion which was premiered by Neil, Tim and the LSO in Spring 2011.

He co-leads the group ‘Caixa’ with Paul Edmund-Davies which plays a blend of world/jazz/latin-flavoured music.

As a clinician and educator Neil has given master classes at many leading conservatoires and percussion events in the UK, Europe, USA and Asia and has coached many of the worlds leading youth orchestras’ including the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra.

Neil is the Zildjian cymbals ’Artist in Residence’, a Yamaha drums and keyboards artist and an artist for Evans Drumheads.

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