Third Coast Percussion has released this January a recording of the 1993-99 work by Philip Glass, envisioned as part of a ballet dance performance, entitled Aguas da Amazonia which like his work entitled Orion, used ethnic instruments.

Third Coast had performed a few of these tracks earlier in an album focused on water, entitled Paddle to the Sea, which is among my favorite albums, for its vivid recording and first-class playing. In this album (35 minutes) they are joined by Constance Volk on flute.

My original exposure to this work was via the recording made by Uakti. The order of pieces is different on this new album. More information about the piece is available via Wikipedia. This version doesn’t include the “bonus” track on the original, a recasting of Glass’ Metamorphosis.

This piece because of its use of percussion, and non-traditional percussion, has a special flavor that’s missing from Glass’ works for traditional instruments used in the western classical tradition. The unusual addition is the use of organ. If I remember correctly, when watching Uakti perform this, they used a synthesizer. It may be the one element that pulls us back into Glass’ soundworld, with his history of writing for organ.

The ensemble write on their website:

This new arrangement was created in partnership with Twyla Tharp Dance for their Diamond Jubilee program. Twyla encouraged us to put our own musical personality into the work as we honed in on a bespoke version of this music that fit Twyla’s vision for her new dance work.

This album does provide the work life in a wash of new light. The performances are different from the earlier Third Coast album, and likewise from the Uakti album, in terms of timbre, scoring, and overall affect. Getting to hear this piece freshly realized, is refreshing. The contribution of Volk on flute elevates this music. She’s an excellent, expressive flavor, and her contributions are exciting. She gets credit too for the album art! Listen to track 5, Negro River for a taste of them hitting things on all cylinders.

One detail noted was that the arrangement was made in connection with the Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond. I’m pissed that I missed their performance! They’ve been fans of Glass in the past, and it was there at Modlin that I saw Glass perform several years ago.

The flavor of the first track of the original album, set as the sixth here, Tiquie River has a completely different take. Of course, if you want to hear things in the original order, it’s easy enough to do in building a playlist.

The eighth track, Xingu River, has a good vibe to it; here on this album the dark timbre of some of the lower instruments are satisfying, as is the attack. I found myself in want of turning up the volume for this track. Having the creative contributions here of a first-rate percussion ensemble shows through. And while I’d never turn away from the original album, this one can easily stand next to it as another viable examination of this unusual work from Glass.

I revisited the Cedille album, Paddle to the Sea. The album opens with the Madeira River track. While simple, the sonorities on the Cedille album are extraordinary. It’s my only regret about this new album that the new one doesn’t have the same sonic richness available in the 2018 release. Alas, a different record company, very possibly different engineers. Paddle to the Sea is among one of the very best audiophile experiences I’ve had on my system. When I’ve played it for visitors, they’re always in awe of both the low end depth and the sparkle of the xylophone.

This new album goes back to playing some of the more ethnic instruments that were part of the instrumentarium used by Uakti. And while this new album doesn’t tickle my ears to the same degree, having yet another masterful performance? Not a bad thing.

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