Any percussionists or devotees of percussion owe it to themselves to investigate this remarkable collection of works performed by French virtuoso Roland Auzet. The set includes three CDs with 13 substantial pieces, about half of them recorded for the first time, as well as a DVD of Auzet playing two
Xenakis solos, Psappha and Rebonds. Those two works, along with Yoshihisa Taïra's Convergence, are the only purely solo works on the set; the rest also involve either electronics, voices, or orchestra. The music is largely modernist or postmodern, and the inclusion of an arrangement of
Milhaud's Concerto pour marimba, vibraphone et orchestre sounds somewhat out of place. The quality of Auzet's selections is consistently high -- these are all substantive works, and the
Xenakis pieces are classics of the repertoire. In addition to the two works mentioned, Auzet performs his Kassandra, a vocal and dramatic tour de force for bass (who sings for the most part in falsetto) and percussion, in which he is joined by
Nicholas Isherwood, and Omega, for percussion and orchestra. Other standouts include Auzet's own atmospheric OROC.pat for zarb and live electronics, Carlos Roqué Alsina's Themen for percussion and string orchestra, and
Gerard Pape's haunting Funeral Sentences, for percussion and voices. Auzet is dauntingly adept at the demands the pieces place on the soloist, and his playing is nuanced, spirited, and hugely energetic. The DVD features Auzet's ferocious performances of
Xenakis' seminal works, Psappha and Rebonds. Since music for percussion, more than that for any other orchestral instrument, has a hugely important choreographic element -- the placement of the instruments and the manner in which you move between them is critical to a good performance -- the visuals add immensely to the overall musical experience. It's great to see Auzet at work, and to marvel at his formidable technique and concentration, as well as the subtlety and economy of his movements. The performance is frenetically over-edited, though, sometimes with multiple shots per second, so it's not the ideal way to experience the visual aspects of his performance.
The set, part of Mode's lavishly produced series Inactuelles, includes a 500-page book, Percussion: Gesture and Spirit, in English and French. It includes a scholarly but accessible essay by Pierre Albert Castanet on percussion music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a series of insightful interviews with the performer, analyses of the music played, and an appreciation by percussionist
Steven Schick. Mode's multidisciplinary approach, which aurally, visually, and analytically addresses the topic of contemporary percussion, allows listeners interested in the subject to come away with a far deeper understanding and appreciation than they might after simply listening to a CD and reading some cursory program notes.