PERPETULUM
available March 29, 2019
from Orange Mountain Music
Featuring music by Philip Glass, Gavin Bryars, and members of Third Coast Percussion
Third Coast Percussion, GRAMMY winners for their 2016 album "Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich", turn to Philip Glass, another composer known for music with repetitive structures, for their latest recording, released on Glass's label Orange Mountain Music. The centerpiece of the two-disc album is a brand-new work by Glass, "Perpetulum", which also gives the album its title. "Perpetulum" is Glass's first-ever work for percussion ensemble and was commissioned by Third Coast Percussion and a consortium of partners. It could be said that Glass, born in 1937, came of age at the same time as the percussion ensemble; John Cage's seminal work "Third Construction" was premiered when Glass was four years old. While his primary instrument was flute, Glass also played in the percussion ensemble as a young student at Baltimore's Peabody Preparatory Conservatory. The four members of Third Coast Percussion—David Skidmore, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and Sean Connors—similarly came of age in the era of Philip Glass. His music has been in their ears since they first picked up a set of mallets, and the music they compose individually and as a group unmistakably bears his influence. It feels natural, then, that Third Coast and Glass would join forces for Glass's first-ever composition for percussion ensemble. Glass has said that, in composing "Perpetulum", he felt nostalgia for his time spent playing in a percussion ensemble as a student. The final work blends a youthful joy and enthusiasm for the sounds of percussion with Glass's signature musical voice. Upon "Perpetulum"s world premiere presented by the Chicago Humanities Festival on November 9, 2018, Chicago Tribune classical music critic Howard Reich enthused, "A sense of joy pervaded all this music, thanks to the intricately interlocking figures Glass wrote and TCP's fastidious execution of them. You just had to smile throughout this performance." Third Coast Percussion member Robert Dillon says, "It has been an amazing honor for us to commission this new work from Philip Glass, an artist who has unquestionably shaped the direction of music today. We are certain that 'Perpetulum' will be an important part of the repertoire for percussion ensembles around the world for decades to come." In addition to "Perpetulum", the double album also features "The Other Side of the River", by Glass's frequent colleague and early collaborator Gavin Bryars. Rounding out the track listing are the premiere recordings of compositions by three out of the four members of Third Coast Percussion, including the seven-movement "Aliens with Extraordinary Abilities" by David Skidmore. Taken as a whole, the album is a loving tribute to Glass and his indelible influence through the decades.
Producer: Jesse Lewis
Engineer: Dan Nichols
Recorded at Electrical Audio, Chicago, IL
Video: Austin Ward
Recorded at Electrical Audio and Francis W. Parker School's Heller Auditorium, Chicago, IL
