So Percussion

Last year Music on Main put on a per­for­mance of American com­poser Steve Reich’s piece Drumming as part of PuSh fest. This year Brooklyn per­cus­sion quar­tet So Percussion came in to play selected works by Reich and another US com­poser, David Lang.

The four guys were enthu­si­as­tic and excit­ing and included the audi­ence in an uncon­trived way. Most of the pieces were rhyth­mi­cally hyp­notic and lay­ered with many sub­tle tones which res­onated in the lofty ceil­ings of Heritage Hall. During Clapping Music I thought I could hear a hum from the unplayed marim­bas. I love Reich’s min­i­mal­ism and it was nice to hear some rarely per­formed works like Four Organs.

In the third part of the David Lang piece, the quar­tet played on flow­er­pots and teacups and the qual­ity of sound was some­how charm­ing and reas­sur­ing like the objects themselves.