BLOOM Sandbox Percussion

• Michael Torke (b. 1961): Bloom 1:
• 1 Torke: Bloom 1: morning 05:10
• 2 Torke: Bloom 1: noon 04:39
• 3 Torke: Bloom 1: night 04:31
• Stem 1:
• 4 Torke: Stem 1 02:28
• Bloom 2:
• 5 Torke: Bloom 2: morning 05:32
• 6 Torke: Bloom 2: noon 05:21
• 7 Torke: Bloom 2: night 08:42
• Stem 2:
• 8 Torke: Stem 2 02:45
• Bloom 3:
• 9 Torke: Bloom 3: morning 04:47
• 10 Torke: Bloom 3: noon 04:13
• 11 Torke: Bloom 3: night 06:18
• Total Runtime 54:26

Info for BLOOM

We’re excited to announce our upcoming album BLOOM, with new music composed for us by Michael Torke, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. BLOOM is his first piece for percussion quartet and this is the world-premiere recording, coming out via Ecstatic Records on August 30 and available on all major streaming platforms.

We also got Michael McQuilken, our great collaborator for Seven Pillars, to shoot music videos for two singles that will be released on YouTube this month. Physical copies of the full album will be available on October 18.

BLOOM uses a series of interlocking rhythms that create a groove when played together with each player’s drums (non-pitched instruments), and vibraphone and marimbas (pitched). “Just as shoots of plants push through dirt erupting in blooms, the vibes and marimbas burst forth from the drums,” says Michael. “This music has an organic profile, unlike other recent pieces of mine.”

For the hourlong piece, which we plan to play live on the road later, Victor plays vibraphone and two bongos; Jonny, vibraphone and two congas; Terry, marimba and five wooden slats; and Ian, marimba and four tom-toms.

BLOOM is structured in three sets — Bloom 1, Bloom 2, and Bloom 3 — each divided into three movements: “morning,” “noon,” and “night.” Two slower movements, Stem 1 and Stem 2, are interspersed between the Bloom sets. The drums represent the earth out of which the shoots grow, which in turn are represented by the mallet instruments.

If you don’t know Michael’s music yet, it’s great; it has a very rhythmic profile, a physical pulse through which he takes classic minimalism to new grounds, with influences from neoclassicism and a strong sense of color. Check out his bluegrass-classical violin concerto SKY, which got the Pulitzer finalist nod.

Ian had previously recorded percussion parts for Michael’s albums PSALMS AND CANTICLES, TIME, and UNSEEN, which led to this new collaboration with all of Sandbox. We felt that this would be a great match from the beginning.

Rhythms are the building blocks of the structure of many of Michael’s pieces, driving forward the emotion and the energy. It’s inspiring to find a composer who uses rhythm in a new and innovative way; we learned a lot from BLOOM about how to ‘melodicize’ a rhythm. Michael also challenged us technically: In some of the more complicated parts, he asked us each to create a composite melody that is split between our keyboard percussion instruments and drums — that’s a particular challenge we had never encountered before.

Sandbox Percussion

Sandbox Percussion
is a quartet that shares meaningful musical experiences with communities worldwide through performance, collaboration, and education, to inspire and cultivate creativity, conscientiousness, and cooperation.

Described as “virtuosic and utterly mesmerizing” by The Guardian, Sandbox Percussion has established themselves as a leading proponent in this generation of contemporary percussion chamber music. Brought together by their love of chamber music and the simple joy of playing together, Sandbox Percussion captivates audiences with performances that are both visually and aurally stunning. Through compelling collaborations with composers and performers, Jonathan Allen, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum and Terry Sweeney seek to engage a wider audience for classical music.

Last season Sandbox Percussion presented more than 30 performances throughout the United States and made their United Kingdom debut at the Vale of Glamorgan festival in Cardiff where they premiered a new work by Benjamin Wallace for percussion quartet and fairground organ. Sandbox presented four separate programs of music by John Luther Adams at Storm King Art Center, Tippet Rise Art Center, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and the String Theory concert series in Chattanooga, TN. Sandbox performed Viet Cuong’s Re(new)al with the Albany Symphony and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra as well as premiered a wind ensemble version of the work with the Brooklyn Wind Symphony. Sandbox collaborated with actor and writer Paul Lazar on a portrait concert of music by John Cage at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and gave three sold out performances of Music for Eighteen Musicians with Emerald City Music in Seattle, WA.

In addition to keeping a busy concert schedule Sandbox has also participated in various masterclasses and coachings at schools such as the Peabody Conservatory, Curtis Institute, the University of Southern California, Kansas University, Cornell University, and Furman University. While there they coached students on some of the most pivotal works in the percussion repertoire including Steve Reich’s Drumming, György Ligeti’s, Síppal, Dobbal, Nádihegedüvel and John Cage’s Third Construction. These teaching experiences have inspired the quartet to pursue a role of pedagogy and mentorship for today’s young generation of musicians. This season Sandbox Percussion will present the fifth annual NYU Sandbox Percussion Seminar. This week long seminar invites percussion students from across the globe to rehearse and perform some of today’s leading percussion chamber music repertoire. A culminating performance is held at the iconic Brooklyn venue, National Sawdust.

Composition has been an ongoing interest for Sandbox Percussion. Jonathan Allen and Victor Caccese have collectively composed six pieces for the quartet. Sandbox has also worked closely with composer David Crowell on a marimba arrangement of his saxophone sextet, Point Reyes. Sandbox Percussion has collectively arranged and composed works with Dutch-American DJ, Scumfrog and will present a collection of new works in the coming concert season.

This season Sandbox Percussion will release their debut album with Coviello Classics. The album will feature works by Amy Beth Kirsten, Andy Akiho, David Crowell, and Thomas Kotcheff. In the Spring of 2020, Sandbox will premiere Seven Pillars, a new evening-length work by composer and steel pan virtuoso, Andy Akiho at the Mondavi Center in Davis, CA. Having frequently performed the middle movement, Pillar IV, this new work will feature seven movements for the quartet and four solo movements. Sandbox Percussion will present a performance at the Dumbarton Oaks concert series where they will premiere a new work by composer, Viet Cuong as well as a string quartet version of his concerto Re(new)al. They will also return to the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts where they will premiere a new work by Christopher Cerrone in collaboration with pianist Conor Hanick. Other premieres this season will include works by Bora Yoon, Jessica Meyer, Julian Wachner, and Matthew Evan Taylor. Sandbox Percussion endorses Pearl/Adams musical instruments, Vic Firth drumsticks, Remo drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals, and Black Swamp accessories.

This album contains no booklet.