54 Min.; Werke für Percussion-Quartett: G.Stout, Route 666; Broström, Nordic Peace; Valero, RRR! + Burrundi; Cano, Ancestry; Lluis Ferrando, Esclats. J. Ponsoda, A.Sola, E.Gonzalez, J.Carrillo; percussion.

Wooden Drum is the latest release from
percussion quartet Esclats. Of the six
selections on the recording, two include
guest artists: “Route 666” featuring the
composer, Gordon Stout, on marimba,
and “Esclats” with narration by Pep
Sellés.
The opening, self-titled track by
Àngel Lluís Ferrando is based on text
by Jordi Botella, which is read by Pep
Sellés. The quartet’s instrumentation is
confined to membrane instruments to
reflect Botella’s text. According to the
composer, “Esclats is a project where
[the] music and the words are the same
thing, they share the same origin, the
same sound.”
The next selection, “¡RRRR!” draws
its name from the expressive qualities
of the snare drum. Scored for four snare
drums (preferably graduated), it explores
a number of non-traditional sounds
including buzz sounds from screaming
into the membrane, rim clicks, various
tones from varying playing areas, etc.
There is even a melodic passage for the
snare drum quartet taken from Franz
Schubert’s “Symphony No. 9.”
Keyboard percussion instruments
are introduced in the third selection,
“Ancestry” by César Cano. Composed
and premiered by Esclats, the piece is an
amalgamation of percussive colors from
the pitched sounds of gongs, vibraphone
and marimba to non-pitched sounds of
various cymbals, hi-hat, woodblocks and
low toms. Cano “hopes that we think

about the ancestry of the music, with the
percussion instruments as its magical
ancestors.”
“Burrrundi” by Andrés Valero is a
driving, non-pitched percussion composition
inspired by the rhythmical
ostinatos performed by the group the
Drummers of Burrrundi. Valero’s interest
in ethnomusicology, particularly
African music, is demonstrated by his
instrumentation as well as his rhythmical
choices.
“Route 666” features the composer,
Gordon Stout, on marimba with the
quartet. This piece’s character is really
brought out by Esclats and Stout, who
keep its groove tight, yet sultry. The
opening motive pervades the composition
in rhythmic variety, thus “the piece
travels down a long, fairly straight road,
and thus the use of Route 66 in the
title.” This piece really grooves.
The closing selection, Tobias
Broström’s “Nordic Peace,” is orchestrated
so “traditional drumset ideas are presented
from a different point of view.”
The piece, however, includes many other
sounds in addition to the traditional
drumset timbres: bongos, timbales, opera
gongs and shaker.
Esclats has a unique energy, sense of
musicianship and balance that give the
percussion listener a new sound in percussion
chamber music. Bravo!

—Eric Willie (Percussive Notes 2009)