Throughout his life Percy Grainger was fascinated by what he called “tuneful percussion”, meaning pitched instruments such as the marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, celesta, chimes, piano, and the bell family’s many members. He went so far as to commission a steel marimba built to his specifications, and even furnished his own mallets. Here for the first time all of Grainger’s original works and arrangements showcasing these instruments are recorded complete, and incorporate the aforementioned steel marimba plus Grainger’s own staff bells for authenticity’s sake.
Grainger’s colorful, often idiosyncratic instrumentation is often wacky and always delightful. In some ways Grainger’s youthful Eastern Intermezzo’s jaunty rhythms and exotic parallel harmonies foreshadow Gershwin’s An American in Paris, while Blithe Bells (Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” lushly harmonized) sounds bizarre yet oddly moving in its incarnation for mallet percussion and four-hand piano (although the basic tempo is too slow for comfort). Grainger’s serious interest in Balinese and Javanese traditional music manifests itself in sensitive arrangements of Gamelan Anklung and Sekar Gadung.
By contrast, Balfour Gardiner’s piano piece London Bridge mostly stands intact, augmented with mallet percussion, harmonium, double bass, and a second piano. In Ravel’s La Vallée des Cloches pianos, marimbas, bells, gongs, and harp delicately interact, augmented by solo strings that sustain notes with plain, threadbare sonorities. And it must have been fun to rehearse and record Grainger’s jaunty, multi-mallet marimba renditions of the Sailor’s Song and two of his greatest hits: Shepherd’s Hey and Country Gardens.
Kudos to the Australian percussion ensemble Woof! for the scholarly integrity and loving musicality that they and their colleagues bring to this project. The booklet annotations include historic photographs and sketches, plus an excellent, informative essay by Alessandro Servadei. In all, an unusual and valuable release to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Percy Grainger’s death. [2/25/2011]
