From concert and album reviews to feature articles, Third Coast Percussion is in the news.
We are fortunate to have garnered critical acclaim and recognition for so many of our performances and projects. See for yourself what the buzz is all about by reading what the press has to say! Browse reviews, articles, and much more below.
Recording of the Week: Third Coast Percussion, Steve Reich
July 22, 2017, by Third Coast Percussion
March 31, 2016 by George Grella New recordings of the music of Steve Reich are easy to recommend: he’s arguably the most important composer of the last fifty years, and because he’s a contemporary, every new release adds to our understanding of his work. That is as true for poorly played recordings and of lesser compositions; the bad stuff sets the good stuff into greater relief. There is nothing bad on this recording in terms of either the writing or the playing, it is all very good. The most recent work is the Mallet Quartet, from 2009 (originally released on a Nonesuch disc in 2011 along with WTC 9/11 and Dance Patterns). This is one of Reichs’ finest recent works—propulsive, and mixing his developing ideas about harmony and form with this exceptional ear for integrated patterns and syncopation. Third Coast Percussion’s performance is excellent, it swings and has a beautiful…
Third Coast Percussion, music of Steve Reich
July 17, 2017, by Third Coast Percussion
March 18, 2016 by Joshua Kosman With each passing year, the work of the pioneering minimalist composers — Steve Reich chief among them — moves further from being the private domain of the creators and their performing associates to take a place in the standard repertoire. That means that a recording as splendid and distinctive as this new release by the Chicago quartet Third Coast Percussion is, in its own way, comparable to another ensemble playing Beethoven or Stravinsky. (more…)
New Releases: Third Coast Percussion & Steve Reich
July 22, 2017, by Third Coast Percussion
February 29, 2016 by Jeff Zumfelde Steve Reich turned 80 in October 2016. Third Coast Percussion kicks off the party with this excellent disc that includes a piece from each of the last four decades. Their playing is warm, fluid and very human. The ensemble pulls extra levels of dramatic tension from these pieces with their wonderfully expressive dynamics, especially on Sextet and Mallet Quartet. The tempo for "Nagoya Marimbas" is slightly more relaxed than the original recording from the 1990s and the piece breathes and dances as a result. The contrasts in color that Third Coast achieves here are quite effective and emotionally engaging. Click here to read the original article.
Third Coast Percussion releases a Steve Reich album on Cedille Records
February 21, 2016, by Third Coast Percussion
February 21, 2016 by Stephen Smoliar Third Coast Percussion is a Chicago-based quartet of percussionists that was formed in 2004 by Anthony Calabrese, Robert Dillon, Jacob Nissly, and David Skidmore. At the time they were both percussionists with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and students at Northwestern University. (The “third coast,” presumably, is that of Lake Michigan.) In the current group Sean Connors and Peter Martin have replaced Calabrese and Nissly. While Chicago is “home,” the group is currently ensemble-in-residence at the University of Notre Dame. As might be guessed, the group has an active commissioning effort; and Skidmore is one of the contributing composers. They also collaborate with other Chicago-based groups, including Eighth Blackbird, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and Hubbard Street Dance. They have been recording since 2008 and participated in a project to record the works for percussion by John Cage. This has involved them…
ALBUM REVIEW: Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich
February 15, 2016, by Third Coast Percussion
February 15, 2016 by Maggie Molloy Minimalist composer Steve Reich is best known for his experiments into “phase music”—that is, music which features two (or more) musicians playing identical lines of music, synchronously at first, but gradually shifting out of unison with one another. As the cycle slowly unfolds, new melodies are created by the ever-changing aural interactions of the two identical lines of music. But just like his phase music, Reich never repeated the same thing exactly twice—in fact, over the past five decades he has built an extraordinary compositional career by maximizing very minimal melodic content. That’s because his compositions are music ofprocess, and his melodies are created through use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, perpetual cycles, and, of course, unwavering originality. With his explorations into rhythm and articulation, Reich redefined the melodic possibilities of percussion instruments in particular—which is why Third…
Mesmerizing Reich From Third Coast Percussion
February 12, 2016, by Third Coast Percussion
February 12, 2016 by David Hurwitz Steve Reich’s music for (mostly) mallet percussion will either hold you enthralled or knock you unconscious, but there’s no in-between. One thing is certain: the musical idiom perfectly suits the instrumentation. Even Music for Pieces of Wood, which can sound like the noise your refrigerator makes when the ice maker is on the fritz, offers a fascinatingly musical study in rhythm and–yes–harmony, amazingly produced with only a few fixed pitches. At least, it does that in these superb performances. This is extremely challenging music to produce effectively. It has to be played with machine-like precision, but at the same time it ought not to sound machine-like. In these performances there is a buoyancy to the perpetually pulsating rhythms in the Mallet Quartet and (above all) the lengthy Sextet that somehow conveys that joy in movement that seems to be what this…
AllMusic Review
, by Third Coast Percussion
February 12, 2016 by James Manheim Percussion music represents an important strand in the output of minimalist composer Steve Reich, and this release by the ensemble Third Coast Percussion, whose members cheerfully admit they weren't even born when Reich first came on the scene, shows how the genre has continued to interest him. The works involved span several decades, from Music for Pieces of Wood (1973) to 2009's Mallet Quartet. It's notable that Reich's language, unlike those of his minimalist-pioneer compatriots, hasn't fundamentally changed during this period. Instead, he explores percussion-defined spaces and processes in different ways. The Nagoya Marimbas (1996) receives a performance that, in the words of the players, "blends the characteristic Reich marimba sound with an expressive, nuanced approach to dynamic shaping"; the upshot seems to be a reading that lands toward the communicative end of the spectrum of Reich performances. Music for Pieces…
Review: ‘Surface Tension,’ Inspired by the Met’s Percussive Collection
February 11, 2016, by Third Coast Percussion
February 11, 2016 by Vivien Schweitzer Works for drums can be rich in rhythm and timbre, but are often harmonically less interesting because of the pitch limitations of the instrument. But a new piece by the Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy, given its New York premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Third Coast Percussion on Wednesday, proved an exception. Inspired by the museum’s historic collection of percussion instruments and by the techniques used to play the bodhran, a traditional Irish frame drum, Mr. Dennehy’s “Surface Tension” incorporated an unusually wide spectrum of pitches. Numerous percussion instruments were spread out on the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium stage, with some ensemble members performing from the balcony to generate an enveloping sound. The harmonic range of the tom-toms was expanded by blowing air into tubes attached to the side of the drums, which stretched the drumheads and thus the variety…
Q2 Music Album of the Week: Third Coast Percussion Offers Empathetic ‘Steve Reich’
February 8, 2016, by Third Coast Percussion
February 8, 2016 by Doyle Armbrust Steve Reich and Third Coast Percussion (TCP) are both celebrating birthdays this year, and if the latter’s new album is, in part, a gift to the former, all subsequent presents will likely take on a paler hue. Marking its 10th anniversary, Third Coast is surfing substantial momentum, with a residency at Notre Dame, frequent appearances on the country’s choicest music series, and this new album released by Chicago’s premiere classical label, Cedille. There is no shortage of Reich’s percussion oeuvre on CD, but TCP comes out swinging with a stunning capture of the now 80-year-old’s Mallet Quartet (2009). Like careening down a Teflon-coated Slip ’n Slide covered in glycerin, the flow of time in movement one, “Fast,” is frictionless, propelling the listener ever forward, unencumbered by bar lines. Movement two, “Slow,” is heartbreaking, with its catch-breath, asymmetrical beat structure and reluctant harmonies played here…
Review
July 22, 2017, by Third Coast Percussion
by Rob Barnett ... along comes this disc in Reich's eightieth birthday year with four works scattered across four decades. It's an encouraging chance to catch up. All the usual attractions are on show. The most succulent of these is Mallet Quartet proving that minimalism can offer juice as well as a mind-tingling rhythmic lucidity. There are surprises too - even disappointments although not in the execution by these six players - including two pianists in Sextet. The gloomy metallic thudding bass-emphatic realms of the central three movements of Sextet are not where I would start anyone new to Reich; for that the large-scale works Desert Music and Variations should not be missed. The outer movements (of five) of Sextet offer contrasting recompense with some ruthless piano figuration alongside the marimbas and vibraphones. Nagoya Marimbas returns us to that open oxygen-rich ringing percussion sound. Here - and in the drier…
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