Catalogue no. PIP1306
How diverse, inventive and evocative can a drummer be? Multifaceted Canadian percussionist Richard Moore provides one eclectic and expressive answer in Dialectics, his debut solo CD. The disc offers an array of music from the Baroque era to the present day, ranging from Bela Bartok, J.S. Bach and Jacques Philidor to Max Roach, Javier Alvarez, Fredrik Schwenk and Mark Glentworth. Moore also features as the composer of the three-movement piece for bass drum after which the CD is named, and improvises music in the Persian style to close the disc. Employing a diverse selection of voices from the percussion family and a different instrument for each piece, the program also features the Hungarian cimbalom, the Austro-Bavarian hackbrett-cimbalom and the Persian santur, all from the hammered dulcimer family. This innovative program deftly displays the richness of music and spirit of percussion instruments from diverse cultures and musical eras.
J. Philidor: March for Two Kettledrums (1683); M. Glentworth: Blues for Gilbert (1983); R. Moore: Dialectics (1999); B. Bartok: Andante (1908); Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (1966); F. Schwenk: Aina Yön Saapuessa (1993); Javier Alvarez: Temazcal (1984); J.S. Bach: Cello Suite in C (1729); traditional Persian improvisation.
F. Schwenk: Aina Yön Saapuessa, I
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Available for digital download from Amazon and other online vendors. Here’s a link: http://www.amazon.com/Dialectics-Expressions-Percussion-Richard-Moore/dp/B00EWYDWG4/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1403752404&sr=1-1&keywords=richard+moore
Reviews:
‘Dialectics – Expressions in Solo Percussionis a new CD by Richard Moore (www.richardmoore.ca). It juxtaposes works for relatively pitch-less instruments — kettle drums, bass drums, drum set and maracas — with pieces for melodic instruments including vibraphone, marimba and two members of the hammered-dulcimer family: the large Eastern European cimbalom and its tenor counterpart, the Austrian hackbrett. The opener, March for Two Pairs of Kettledrums was written more than three centuries ago by Jacques Philidor. Originally intended for two players placed antiphonally, Moore uses overdubbing to play the duet with himself in a convincing manner. The title track is a 1999 composition for two large bass drums by Moore himself. The driving first movement Thesis is reminiscent of the surf-rock classic Wipeout. Antithesis is introspective, combining hand drumming with the eerie sounds produced by drawing rubber mallets across the skin of the drum heads. Without a noticeable break Synthesis grows out of the quiet and builds back to the opening movement’s frantic pitch. Moore’s transcription of Max Roach’s The Drum Also Waltzes is an extended drum solo using a traditional jazz kit which features a bass drum and high-hat theme alternating with improvised sections. Moore is one of very few cimbalom players in our midst and interspersed with these percussive offerings we are treated to his own adaptation of an Andante for solo piano by Bela Bartok on this distinctive instrument, plus an original work by the Bavarian composer Frederik Schwenk who takes melodies from the folk repertoire of the Finnish kantele, yet another ethnic dulcimer, and adapts them for the hackbrett in a suite that features hammered strings in the outer movements and plucked strings in the middle. This is followed by an unusual piece by Mexican composer Javier Alvarez in which the performer is instructed to improvise using maracas over an electronic track which varies from environmental to industrial sounds and gradually transforms into a gentle folk melody. Moore’s improvisation is so well integrated that it is hard to realize it is not a part of the original soundscape… Moore is an accomplished musician and these tracks demonstrate his command of many aspects of the contemporary percussionist’s arsenal.’ The Wholenote