Paddle to the Sea - Third Coast Percussion
Released in February of 2018, Paddle to the Sea features music by Philip Glass, Musekiwa Chingodza, Jacob Druckman, and the Third Coast Percussion ensemble. The theme behind these pieces should be obvious by the title, water, rivers, ocean.
The titular composition is in fact entitled Paddle to the Sea by the ensemble and is the longest work on the recording, made up of ten movements. Jacob Druckman's piece, Reflections on the Nature of Water, in six movements, is broken up by selections from pieces by Glass, from his Aguas Da Amazonia, originally written for performance by Uakti.
From the liner notes:
The protagonist of Holling C. Holling’s 1941 children’s book Paddle to the Sea is a small wooden figure in a canoe, lovingly carved by a Native Canadian boy. From the Nipigon Country north of Lake Superior, the figure travels for years through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway out to the Atlantic Ocean and beyond, encountering a variety of people, creatures, and environments along the way. Indeed, these encounters make the long journey possible—rather than keeping Paddle for themselves, those who find the figurine choose to send him further along the waterways, perhaps with a fresh coat of paint or a new rudder.
This Chicago-based ensemble is composed of four musicians: Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore. The titular work was composed by the ensemble while in residence at the Yellow Barn in Putney, Vermont.
In full transparency, I was turned onto this recording because of the selection of movements from the piece by Philip Glass. His Aguas Da Amazonia is among my favorite pieces of his iconic, living composer. And while this relese doesn't fully present us with all the movements from the collection, they do an excellent job in their performance. The organic feeling they achieve in their interpretation is nearly magical. The instrumentation and sound is different from the release by Uataki, and while I still like this (original) recording, these performances highlight the virtuosity and technical excellence of Third Coast Percussion.
The ensemble's original piece is interesting for is use of synthesizer, texture, and variety. It's chordal harmonies aren't terribly foreign to the soundscape of Glass. It's for this reason, and the use of similar instruments, that the pieces work well together on the same album, beyond the common theme of water.
The shortest piece is Chigwaya composed by mbira composer Musekiwa Chingodza. The buzzing and resonant discord becomes background to a looping vocal line that happily rides on top of a repeating pattern. The piece's ethnic feel again is an excellent foil to the pieces by Glass.
Druckman's piece, then, seems the odd one out, being written for solo maribma. His harmonic language is also a depature from Glass and Chingodza. The hypnotic rhythm in his second movement, entitled "Fleet," is in some ways reminicient of the repeating patterns in minimalist music. The same goes for the more jovial sounding themes in his fourth movement, "Gently Swelling."
The repeated jestures at the start of "Japurá River" by Glass bring us right back to Druckman, who is fond of repeated notes on the same bar of the marimba. I can't be sure if it's the theme of water or the excellent programmaing by Third Coast, but the recital presented on this disc by different composers works. It's a beautiful collection of pieces.
Cedille Records should be proud of the vibrant, clear sound presented on this disc. I thoroughly enjoyed this recording in higher-resolution 96kHz on Qobuz. It reveals that Third Coast is not only an excellent percussion ensemble, but have excellent compositional chops as well.
