Timber by Michael Gordon
Musical pioneer and Bang on a Can co-founder Michael Gordon's subtle rhythmic investigations and fearless compositional inventions have led WNYC to note, "Gordon's music is an outgrowth of his underground New York rock band experience combined with formal music training from Yale, so it's no surprise that he's obsessed with the nature of rhythm. ?[He] has built his career on exploring rhythm and what happens when different rhythms are piled on top of each other, to mesmerizing effect." For his most recent composition, Gordon has ventured outside the realm of traditional instrumentation to achieve an evening-length tour de force.
His new work, Timber, is scored for six wooden 2x4s, each cut into different sizes, giving each one a slightly different pitch. Called a "simantra", this percussion instrument was first devised by composer Iannis Xenakis. Far from a gimmick, the instrumentation allows Gordon to create the impression that the sound is traveling around and through the room by subtly shifting the accent of sound from one player to another. The result is a meditation on sound and rhythm, bringing the physicality, endurance and technique of percussion performance to a new level.
Tracklist
| 1. | Timber, part 1 | 8:34 |
| 2. | Timber, part 2 | 12:11 |
| 3. | Timber, part 3 | 7:10 |
| 4. | Timber, part 4 | 13:02 |
| 5. | Timber, part 5 | 13:31 |
Credits
License
All rights reserved.Recommendations
Michael Gordon's music merges subtle rhythmic invention with incredible power embodying, in the words of The New Yorker's Alex Ross, "the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz and the intransigence of classical modernism."