Left Edge Percussion and video by SOU Professor of Art David Bithell and Cody Bustamante will be featured on Bang on a Can’s streaming concert celebrating Michael Gordon’s Timber on its 10th birthday! Left Edge Percussion’s collaboration with Bithell and Bustamante was created, performed, and recorded in 2018, and the featured performers were Terry Longshore, Reed Bentley, Greyson Boydstun, Jenny Gray, Jake Riggs, and Drew Wright.
June 20
Noon - Midnight EDT
Michael Gordon's Timber turns TEN and we're having a Birthday Party!
On Sunday June 20 from noon to midnight (EDT) Bang on a Can presents 12 hours of streaming performances of Michael Gordon's Timber by ensembles from around the World, interviews with performers and collaborators, archival videos, remixes, and more!
PERFORMANCE ORDER
noon - midnight EDT
(exact times TBA)
Slagwerk Den Haag and Club Guy & Roni dance (Netherlands)
Ensemble Tactus (France)
Hauschka (Germany)
Institut für Musik Universität Kassel (Germany)
SaNeNa (Turkey)
MonoCollective (Italy)
Ictus Ensemble (Belgium)
Grupo de Percussão (Portugal) and Roberto Olivan dance (Spain)
Ensemble Perceum (Uruguay)
Versus8 (Mexico)
Steven Schick (USA)
So Percussion (USA)
Nief Norf (USA)
University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble (USA)
Left Edge Percussion (USA)
Mantra Percussion (USA)
An hour-long tour de force for six percussionists, Timber is scored for six pieces of wood, known as simantras — instruments from the Eastern Orthodox liturgy. Using these simple instruments (cut to varying pitches from low to high) Gordon shapes the music in both polyrhythmic and dynamic waves of textures; often each players' hands are in separate rhythmic 'worlds', each traversing a different dynamic contour from loud to soft to loud.
When amplified in a resonant space the "glorious overtones produced from this limited array has to be heard to be believed." (TimeOut Chicago) What can be described as an aurora borealis of sound, the overtones from the instruments combine to create hidden melodies — an other-worldy mix of timbres and harmonies that float and shimmer above the ensemble. "It has a halo, an ethereal aura of sound." (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Gordon writes about the work:
I thought of composing this music as being like taking a trip out into the desert. I was counting on the stark palette and the challenge of survival to clear my brain and bring on visions.
This marathon streaming event marks a new decade for the work. As Timber becomes more engrained in contemporary music repertoire, the work's new publisher, G. Ricordi & Co., New York (part of the Universal Music Publishing Group) has moved the performance materials from rental/hire to sales. The score and parts are now available for purchase from any regional office of UMPG's global network. You can click here to find an office near you, or write to Jude Vaclavik, Director, US Classical Publishing and Promotion, G. Ricordi & Co., New York.
Timber has been released on two albums on Cantaloupe Music: Slagwerk Den Haag's 2011 premiere release and 2016's double CD/LP Timber Remixed featuring 12 electronica artists — including Squarepusher, Oneohtrix Point Never, Hauschka, Mira Calix, HPRIZM/High Priest of APC, Ikue Mori, Tim Hecker, and others — reimagining the work along with a complete live performance by Mantra Percussion from the 2014 Bang on a Can Marathon.
Cantaloupe Music
80 Hanson Pl. #301
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Cantaloupe Music is the record label created by the three founders of New York's legendary music collective Bang on a Can — Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe — with Bang on a Can managing director Kenny Savelson. Cantaloupe Music has made a massive impact in the new music community, and has been recognized by critics and fans worldwide for its edgy and adventurous sounds.