Quartet For Percussion - Free vs Controlled

Tracy Freeze

General Info

Year: 2017
Duration: c. 10:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manuscript
Cost: Score and Parts - $0.00   |   Score Only - $0.00

Instrumentation

Player I: 6 Graduated Drums
Player II: 6 Graduated Drums
Player III: 6 Graduated Drums
Player IV: 6 Graduated Drums

Program Notes

Quartet for percussion is tribute to the great composers and works for percussion. The piece represents multiple styles of playing each reminiscent of famous percussion works, composers and compositional techniques.

William Kraft took up the torch from John Cage and Lou Harrison by further expanding the playing techniques and sound possibilities from the percussion section. As a percussionist he has a thorough understanding of the range and timbre possibilities that each instrument can make and create expressive gestures with this sonic palette.

Steve Reich plays an important role in the compositional style of the modern musician. With his minimalist techniques, Reich is able to employ many additive and subtractive compositional techniques in his music. In the end of Quartet, the final subtractive figure is written as an homage to the minimalist composers; Reich, Gordon, and even Russell Peck, in this climactic moment.

Many other pieces and composers are indirectly quoted and tributed within this composition. I tried to compose a work that highlighted many of the features from composers we are playing tonight. Peter Garlands use of “Mass Sonorities” like in Three Songs of Mad Coyote, William Kraft and his extended techniques, Lou Harrison and his use of formal compositional devices - Fugue, and lastly the drumming and minimalist techniques of Reich, Gordon, and drumming techniques of Peck’s Lift Off.

In addition to this piece being a tribute to the great percussion works and composers, I have also tried to include a fifty percent balance between a work that is strictly composed and totally free. There are three main sections that are composed in three distinct styles as I have mentioned before. In contrast, the performers have three “Free” Cadenzas each with their own distinct style as well. The work is intended to show balance between the two ideas of Free vs Control in regards to music composition.

Tonight's premier performance is the culminating experience of an grant project between the ESU Percussion Ensemble and Koch Center for Leadership and Ethics. Thank you for your support!

Recent Performances

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Works for Percussion by this Composer

1337 Machine - Percussion Nonet: min. of 9 or more players
Anxiety (Freeze) - Percussion Ensemble
Extemporanimus - Indeterminante Instrumentation
Extemporanimus II - Inderterminate Instrumentation
Litter Liter Lieder - Percussion Sextet: 2 Liter Bottles; min. of 6 or more players
Percussion Symphony No. 1 - Percussion Quartet
Praesepe M.44 - Percussion Sextet: min. of 6 or more Players
Quartet For Percussion - Free vs Controlled - Percussion Quartet
Rhapsody for Timpani - Timpani
Sacrifice of Odin - Percussion Ensemble (13)
Stompageddon - Percussion Quintet: Push Brooms; min of 5 or more players
Stompapotamus - Percussion Quintet: Push Brooms; min of 5 or more players
Taiko Machine - Percussion Octet: min. of 8 or more players
Teh Pwnin Machine - Percussion Nonet: min. of 9 or more players
Thor and Jörmungandr - Percussion Octet: min. of 8 or more players
Trapezium Cluster - Timpani, Percussion Nonet: min. of 9 or more players
Trenches - Percussion Ensemble (10): min. of 10 or more players
Water and Ice - Percussion Nonet: min. of 9 or more players

Transcriptions

Adagio for Strings - Percussion Quintet; Mallet Ensemble; Doubling preferred
Ave Maria from All Night Vigil - Percussion Quartet; Mallet Ensemble; Doubling preferred
Bolero a'la Zappa - Percussion Sextet; Jazz Band
Der Doppleganger - Marimba - Voice (1 player)
Fantasy On Japanese Woodprints, op.211 (Percussion Ensemble) - Xylophone; Percussion Nonet
Intermezzo from Cavaleria Rusticana - Percussion Sextet; Mallet Ensemble
La Messe de Nostre-Dame - Percussion Quartet, Mallet Ensemble; Doubling preferred
Le Nozze di Figaro - Overture - Percussion Quintet, Mallet Ensemble
Numc Dimittis from All Night Vigil - Percussion Quintet or Sextet; Mallet Ensemble; Doubling preferred
Concerto pour batterie et petit orchestre - Multiple Percussion; Percussion Sextet, Mallet Ensemble
Polka from The Golden Age - Percussion Quartet; Mallet Ensemble
Senegal Calling - Percussion Ensemble (14); optional Jazz Band
Siete canciones populares españolas - Marimba; Soprano Voice
Time After Time - Percussion Duo, Marimba/Vibes Duo
Toccata and Fugue - Percussion Quintet; Mallet Ensemble