Threads (2005) – Paul Lansky
Instrumentation:
- Player 1: vibraphone, timbales, doumbeck, crotales, temple blocks
- Player 2: vibraphone, noise-makers, low toms
- Player 3: glockenspiel, cowbell, agogo bells, claves, 4 un-tuned bottles, bongos, congas
- Player 4: metal pipes, flowerpots, high toms
Composer’s note:
Threads, written by Paul Lansky for So Percussion in 2005, is a ‘cantata’ for percussion quartet in ten short movements. There are three ‘threads’ that are interwoven in the piece: Arias and Preludes that focus on the metallic pitched sounds; Choruses in which drumming predominates; and Recitatives made largely from Cage-like ‘noise’ instruments. The aims of the different threads are to highlight the wide range of qualities that percussion instruments are capable of, from lyrical and tender to forceful and aggressive, and weave them into one continuous texture.
-Paul Lansky
Annotated by JOhn Stapleton