Recordings of works for solo percussionist(s)* and orchestra

Started by Maestro267, September 22, 2020, 04:55:23 AM

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Maestro267

Whenever I try to search Amazon or wherever for "percussion concerto", I encounter the same problem every time...countless recordings of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Great as those works are, that's not what I'm after when I'm searching for works for solo percussionist (or ensemble) and orchestra. Does anyone here have recommendations? Works I am aware of already include MacMillan's Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, Takemitsu's From me flows what you call time, Daugherty's UFO. But otherwise, any suggestions?

Papy Oli

Glass' concerto fantasy for 2 Timpanis and orchestra is a corker :

[asin]B0002X4UBA[/asin]

you can even watch a great version here as a bonus:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p013s7y8/philip-glass-concert-live-at-the-barbican
Olivier

Brian

Kalevi Aho's percussion concerto Sieidi just made its CD premiere. I also recommend Avner Dorman's "Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!", a concerto for two percussionists and orchestra which is on YouTube here (skip to 8:00 unless you want to hear a long intro in German).

MusicTurner

#3
Nørgård, 'For A Change'-concerto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2qTcJfv_as

Respighi, War Dance, from Belkis Suite (Chandos recording with Geoffrey Simon preferable)
8:00 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aobZCZSJMNM

ritter

You've got Milhaud's  (rather short) Concerto for Percussion and Chamber Orchestra, op. 109, available on this CD:

[asin]B00LBKI2U8[/asin]

And his Concerto for Marimba and Vibraphone, Op. 278, which you'll find here:

[asin]B004ZARXPQ[/asin]


pjme

The percussion concerto had a timid start in the 20th century and Milhaud's mini composition (ca. 8-10 mins) may well be the first example.
It was commissioned by Belgian timpanist Theo Coutelier who, apparently, was inspired by Milhaud's use of percussion in Les Choéphores.
Other French composers who loved percussion: Jolivet and Loucheur, both inspired by the exotic sounds of drums, gongs and cymbals - and jazz. Jolivet wrote a concerto in 1958 to be used (like the Milhaud work) as a test piece in conservatories. Loucheur (also on YT)  wrote a Concertino for Vincent Geminiani (now 81), a multi-talented performer who evolved into the (quite esoteric) jazz world.
https://youtu.be/Hk3bjXUPLLI
https://youtu.be/EZZ7UzLgoSo
Vincent Geminiani's mother, Yvonne Desportes (a Paul Dukas pupil!) actually wrote two concerti for her son (1957 and 1960). I'd love to hear these.

More recently William Kraft, Peter Sadlo, Gert Mortensen, Evelyn Glennie, Colin Currie and Martin Grubinger commissioned several works, already mentioned.
I like Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen's Triptykon for Percussion and Orchestra. The three movements of TRIPTYKON are composed in an effort to create clear contrasts of colour. The first movement employs only winds in the orchestra, the second movement only strings, and in the third movement the first two movements are repeated, on top of each other, played simultaneously. The percussion solo part has equally distinct colours: for the first movement: metal only, for the second movement: wood only, and then finally in the third movement- together with the orchestral tutti - skin!
https://www.prestomusic.com/sheet-music/products/7012134--pelle-gudmundsen-holmgreen-triptykon-for-percussion-and-orchestra
https://youtu.be/IE7pf0UQSUQ


Artem


some guy

Speaking of Bill Kraft, he wrote a timpani concerto, of course.

Richard Strauss' Burleske is for piano and orchestra, but it has a smashing timpani part.

Gubaidulina has a piece called "Glorious Percussion."

Two thumbs up for the Cerha, by the way. That's a splendid piece and a splendid album.

If you don't necessarily need one percussionist, the googling the names of percussion ensembles should give you some good results.

Brian

Last year the Dallas Symphony premiered a new timpani concerto by Steven Mackey. In addition to the usual sticks, the soloist is expected to use drinking glasses, tennis balls, and other implements to create unusual sounds on the kettles. There's also lots of fancy footwork. It was an eye-opening demonstration of what timpani can do. (Mackey told me he composed the work in part by going to his basement and just bouncing random stuff around to listen to the sounds.)

Maestro267

Quote from: some guy on September 23, 2020, 01:36:10 PM
Gubaidulina has a piece called "Glorious Percussion."

Yes, there's a magnificent performance of this on Youtube. The part near the end with the five players on massive (and very loud) bass drums is really quite something. I'm very interested in works for multiple percussion soloists. My favourite "percussion concerto" I've discovered so far is Toru Takemitsu's gorgeous "From me flows what you call Time".

Quote from: Brian on September 23, 2020, 02:29:11 PM
Last year the Dallas Symphony premiered a new timpani concerto by Steven Mackey. In addition to the usual sticks, the soloist is expected to use drinking glasses, tennis balls, and other implements to create unusual sounds on the kettles. There's also lots of fancy footwork. It was an eye-opening demonstration of what timpani can do. (Mackey told me he composed the work in part by going to his basement and just bouncing random stuff around to listen to the sounds.)

I love the experimentation that can be done. I saw a demo on the Tube of You that had a timpanist place a cymbal upside down on top of a kettledrum. Playing the cymbal by various means, with sticks or bows, and taking advantage of the drum's pedal, created some very eerie and amazing sounds.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. A good number of these I've never come across before. These recordings are out there; shame Bartók's taken over those words...

MusicTurner

#10
There's also Ruders' 'Monodrama' concerto, but it's not a piece I found that exciting, based on some superficial listening.

some guy

It's been bugging me that there's at least one piece out there that I know about (have in my own collection) but couldn't put a name to.

At least one. Two of them are here: https://en.schott-music.com/shop/noten-buecher/orchester/ein-solo-instrument-und-orchester/schlagzeug-und-orchester.html

The Eötvös and the Schwantner.

The Eötvös is on page one, and the Schwantner is on page four, but that's as may be. The Eötvös is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8fqnipmUPA. The Schwantner is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8VZdskClTg.

You really can't go wrong with the Cerha, though, as mentioned earlier.

pjme

Harald Genzmer:

Concerto for organ and percussion (1974): https://youtu.be/ErIJJUdCcMQ

Concerto for percussion solo and orchestra (1978): https://youtu.be/RP1UrdTvnkc
(exists also for piano and percussion)

Daniel Hjorth DRUM FOR YOUR LIFE - concerto for percussion and orchestra (2014): https://youtu.be/7LR-Q7cGFvA
Siegfried Mathus : "Der Wald" concerto for timpani and orchestra (1984): https://youtu.be/thLOuTTn3Kg
Werner Thärichen: Timpani concerto (1954): https://youtu.be/QqSNdpPzPik
Jean Batigne (founder of Les percussions de Strasbourg): Timpani concerto: https://youtu.be/jO1Ax-uLaVQ
Thomas Blomenkamp: Rhapsodie für Pauken/Schlagzeug & Orchester | Aufzeichnung der Uraufführung vom 13. Mai 2018 https://youtu.be/V64B-vAnemY
William Kraft: Timpani concerto nr. 1: https://youtu.be/90xIsCpELas
                     Timpani concerto nr. 2: https://youtu.be/yvNlC25mqj0






listener

Donald ERB (on vinyl, Turnabout TVS-34 433 if you can find it)
Concerto for Solo Percussion    Dahlgren, Marcus percussion    Johanos, Donald   cond.   Dallas S.O.


"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

some guy

In case y'all missed it, I've been ripping my cds recently, all of them, so that I can travel light and still have all my music.

COVID-19 has squashed the whole travel idea, for the moment, but the ripping still goes on. And one of the things I ran across recently was Harold Farberman's concerto for jazz drummer and orchestra. I don't remember liking it much, but then I remember disliking lots of things that now, as I listen to them, seem not only fine but essential. I'm in the middle of Subotnick's Touch right now, which is quite a lot more interesting than I remembered it (I'm listening quite a lot better than when I bought it), but I'll report on the Farberman later on, if you like.


Cato

Quote from: Maestro267 on September 22, 2020, 04:55:23 AM
Whenever I try to search Amazon or wherever for "percussion concerto", I encounter the same problem every time...countless recordings of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Great as those works are, that's not what I'm after when I'm searching for works for solo percussionist (or ensemble) and orchestra. Does anyone here have recommendations? Works I am aware of already include MacMillan's Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, Takemitsu's From me flows what you call time, Daugherty's UFO. But otherwise, any suggestions?

The First Symphony of Alexander Tcherepnin features an all-percussion Scherzo!

https://www.youtube.com/v/xc7K7ToLQ1g
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)