This selection of new works for percussion ensemble offers a myriad different directions, several more refined and delicate than you'd expect from music made by bashing.
Howard Skempton's "Slip-stream", for instance, is the most restrained of percussive duets, with vibes and glockenspiel twinkling delicately over shimmering cymbal, while Peter McGarr's "Sound Asleep" employs wind and string instruments alongside a wide range of percussion for a shifting evocation of a dreamscape. The longest piece is Keith Tippett's absorbing "Dance Of The Dragonfly", a jittery work whose long pauses, punctuated by sudden rapid bursts of activity, skilfully evokes its insect subject's brief but dazzling life.
Download: Shard; Slip-stream; Sound Asleep; Dance Of The Dragonfly
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