Four Percussion Works

This very moment I am listening to an old Urania recording (UR 134) of four works for percussion ensemble. One is a touchstone of avant-garde music, two are by composers who are well known for many orchestral works though not for specific percussion works, and one is by a composer who seems almost forgotten today.

• Ballet Mécanique (17:56) by George Antheil, 1900-(1923)-1959.
• Sketch for Percussion (3:50) by Ronald LoPresti 1933-(1955)-1985.
• Toccata for Percussion Instruments (7:58) by Carlos Chavez, 1899-(1910)-1978.
• October Mountain (10:46) by Alan Hovhaness, 1911-(1936)-2000.

George Antheil was known, through his own marketing plan, as the bad boy of music. Ballet Mécanique begins in a particularly tribal mode with pentatonic scales and many parallel intervals (mostly fifths), which is interrupted by a propeller. More than one segment has received flavoring from Stravinky's Rite. perhaps to further the feeling of indigenous musicality. The score was originally meant as soundtrack to a film by Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy, and Man Ray); however, it wasn't joined to the film in a screening until 1935. The work was substantially revised in 1952-53, and that is the version on the LP.

Carlos Chavez is most associated with collecting aboriginal music of Mexico, with an early interest in electronic music, and with the development of melody and texture as derivatives of previous statements without returning to the exact source. His oeuvre include six symphonies, six concerti, and many pieces for piano, through which he developed his theories of composition. This performance of the Toccata does not seem an equal to the works on this album by Antheil and Hovhaness.

Alan Hovhaness was recognized during his lifetime as a prolific symphonist (having written more than 70) and composer of ballet scores. The direct rhythmic influence of Armenian folksong inspires even his October Mountain. Each sonority is given a chance to perform a solo segment, and gradually the texture becomes complex as pairs and trios combine their original segments.

Ronald LoPresti was born October 28, 1933 in Williamstown, Massachusetts and died October 25, 1985 in Tempe, Arizona. He studied music under Louis Mennini and Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music and received a Bachelor's degree in 1955 and a Master's in 1956. He taught at Texas Technological College and was named a composer-in-residence at the Winfield public schools of Kansas from 1960 to 1962. He was appointed assistant professor of music at Indiana University in Pennsylvania and from 1964 professor of theory and composition at Arizona State University, Tempe. The Dictionary of American Classical Composers cites 17 orchestral works and 8 larger choral works, as well as some opera, ballet, and instrumental music. The 8-page score for Sketch is available through Google Books, which indicates it was published in 1959. LoPresti is represented on YouTube almost solely by many videos of Elegy for a Young American for wind band.

The paper and vinyl of this album will be recycled, not of quality for sale.

© 2015.05.26, Thomas Kohn