Percussion Collective, Theofanidis's Drum Circles

Percussion Collective, Theofanidis’s Drum Circles

JESSICA CABE Festival Focus Writer

Classical music audiences have grown accustomed to the image of a concerto being an orchestra led by conductor and soloist on a melodic instrument, like a violin or piano. But Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) audiences on Sunday will experience a rare treat: a concerto featuring a group of percussionists front and center.

The Aspen Festival Orchestra (AFO) and Percussion Collective will perform Christopher Theofanidis’s Drum Circles at 4 pm on Sunday, August 11, in the Benedict Music Tent. The Percussion Collective is a project of Robert van Sice, who has assembled a collection of young artists reinventing the concert experience with their engaging performances.

Also on the program is Gershwin’s Cuban Overture; Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto, performed by “pristine, lyrical, and intelligent” (The New York Times) pianist Jan Lisiecki; and Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin Suite. The program is conducted by Michael Stern.

The Percussion Collective performs Drum Circles with the Aspen Festival Orchestra on August 11 at 4 pm in the Benedict Music Tent.

“Chris Theofanidis is a member of our faculty and a leader in our composition program,” says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. “A hallmark of his music is that it’s hugely fun to play. Chris is always thinking about the performers and about giving them something really wonderful to do. This piece is going to be a great illustration of that; it’s just really fun.”

Drum Circles consists of five movements, performed by a percussion quartet and orchestra. While the work obviously relies heavily upon percussion instruments, that does not mean melody and lyricism are sacrificed. The first movement, Rivers and Anthems, is mostly pitch instrument oriented, featuring chimes, crotales—small antique cymbals—and vibraphones. But all of the excitement of instruments that you strike is also on display in this piece. The fourth movement, Spirits and Drums, heavily involves the orchestra percussionists in “a kind of terrifying sonic landscape reminiscent of taiko drumming,” Theofanidis says.

Drum Circles was commissioned by a consortium including the AMFS, Baltimore Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Oregon Symphony. Theofanidis worked closely with the Percussion Collective in crafting the piece. In addition to his usual attention to musicality, he also focused on making the work as portable as possible.

“To have four players on the road with an enormous amount of gear didn’t make sense either artistically or economically and would have probably limited the opportunities for the work to get done,” Theofanidis says. “I tend to think that whatever the instruments, the challenge is still the same: create something interesting and wonderful and expressive. In reality, there is a nice mix of fun instruments, including things like an amplified typewriter, wooden slats, and spring coils, among the more traditional array of instruments. Plenty of bells and whistles, so to speak.”

-Christopher Theofanidis Composer

Theofanidis says the challenges of writing a concerto for percussion quartet versus a more traditional solo instrument are also what ends up making the work so fun for audiences to witness.

“One of the things that a composer worries about in doing any concerto for multiple instruments is the problem of how to maintain focus on several soloists and to keep the interest over a larger time frame in doing so,” he says. “Having many players potentially seriously decentralizes that focus. I kept coming back to the idea of dialogue and delight in terms of the approach. There are wonderful spatial possibilities with the four percussionists and three orchestral percussionists, and that figured prominently into the concept of the work, and hence the title.

Watching great percussionists play is kind of like watching great dancers—everything is in the body, and it all has to be so beautifully choreographed to make it work.

“Watching great percussionists play is kind of like watching great dancers—everything is in the body, and it all has to be so beautifully choreographed to make it work,” he continues. “The players each have ‘stations’ and are moving around from time to time to their various set-ups. There are also just so many different kinds of instruments and ways of playing to observe. I think it is ultimately a visceral experience to watch them, but with surprising moments of balletic grace.”