MOVEMENT IN TIME
Don Liuzzi

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Project Director, Don Liuzzi, is joined by his Philadelphia Orchestra percussion colleagues, Anthony Orlando and Angela Zator Nelson and Philadelphia Orchestra violinists, Chantal Julliet and Hirono Oka, and alto saxophonist, Marshall Taylor, in spectacular performances by distinguished composers, Maurice Wright, Nick Rissman and William Kraft. Mr. Liuzzi writes:

"~ This album is dedicated to the memory of the lives of Charles and Charlotte Owen ~

I came to love the music of Maurice Wright when I first took his graduate seminar at Temple University called 'The New Consonance'. After hearing his entrancing computer generated adaptation of Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea, I mentally made note that I would commission him for something someday. With the untimely passing of my undergraduate teacher, Charles Owen (former principal percussion with The Philadelphia Orchestra, founder of the modern percussion major program at Temple University, and long-time professor of percussion at the University of Michigan) I wanted to honor the wonderful life of Mr. Owen with a significant percussion chamber work. Movement In Time, this CD’s Philadelpha Percussion Project's Volume I title, shows the beauty, inventiveness, and wonderful sound colors of the percussion family, expressed so well in the life of Charles Owen. Charlie's musical life was a real song, filled with joy, wonder, and inventiveness of creating sounds. Wright captured this spirit, mixing live orchestral percussion sounds with electronic samples of percussion, echoes of orchestral sounds, and even the mixing of electronic distant choirs with gentle rolling timpani melodies! I find Wright's music to be both intellectually intriguing, humanly very witty at times (check out the laughter and animal noises in the "Set-up Music" of the Percussion Suite), yet a very serious exploration of sounds and moods. His Grand Duo and Suite for Percussion and Electronic Sound also reveal this juxtaposition of humor and driving seriousness.

I cannot say enough of my dear friend and colleague, Nick Rissman's music. The technical demands on the players, individually and collectively, have a deep reward, both for the player and listener. His music is flat out fun (and hard) to play, and the effect for the listener, simply thrilling. His programmatic writing in McCoy's Mountain is so vivid. Arrival at the Mountain has the grandeur of leaping octaves in both piano and marimba insinuating jagged mountain peaks, with haunting echo-chords one imagines in the silence and presence of mountain forest views. Soft Creek is the mesmeric experience of encountering a high mountain creek. And, in Wild Ride, Nick's musical description of riding down a mountain road in a 75' Chevy Vega at 80 miles an hour as trees and scenes whiz past, is as gripping as the picture he describes. His "absolute" music in the commissioned "Scherzo", has all the intelligence and thrill of a Brahms or Beethoven scherzo...and I happen to think Brahms and Beethoven would have admired Nick's Scherzo!

My interactions with William Kraft were quite focused in 1998–2000. Between his timpani concerto #1 and his Encounters IX for percussion and alto sax, we worked closely together on his music with workshops at both Temple University and the Curtis Institute of Music. Encounters IX was recorded in late January of 2000, (George Blood, producer, engineer, and editor) and the inclusion of this work in this recording project for Equilibrium is made possible with the permission of William Kraft and Albany Records." — Don Liuzzi

TRACKS
1-5   Grand Duo (1985 revised 2001)
1	Hurried
2	Brisk, strong
3	Uneasily
4	Lyrical
5	Deliberate
6-8   McCoy's Mountain (1979)
6	Arrival at the Mountain
7	Soft Creek
8	Wild Ride
9	Movement In Time (1993) for percussion and electronic sound
10	Scherzo (1996) for violin, piano, and vibraphone
11-12   Suite for Percussion and Electronic Sound (1982)
11	Marimba Music — Interlude
12	Set-Up Music
13	Encounters IX (1982) for alto saxophone and percussion
Total Playing Time

REVIEWS

Movement in Time: Music of Wright, Rissman, and Kraft
The Philadelphia Percussion
Project, Volume 1
Equilibrium®

Containing splendid percussion with violin, piano, saxophone, and electronic sounds, this disc is a must-have for those interested in mixed instrumental chamber music. This eclectic collection varies considerably from one track to the next offering a buffet of sounds for the listener.

I was immediately struck with the fantastic quality and superb musicianship, which is exactly what you would expect from musicians of this caliber. Philadelphia Orchestra percussionists Don Liuzzi, Angela Zator Nelson, and Anthony Orlando perform beautifully alongside Chantal Juillet and Hirono Oka (violinists), Marshall Taylor (saxophone), and Nick Rissman (piano). Works include Maurice Wright's "Grand Duo," "Movement in Time," and "Suite for Percussion and Electronic Sound"; Nick Rissman's "McCoy’s Mountain," and "Scherzo"; and William Kraft's "Encounters IX."

The technical demands within the music are great, which are handled with inordinate detail and finesse by the musicians. Regardless of what you think of contemporary chamber music, you will definitely appreciate this high level of technical execution and musicianship. Bravo! ~ T. Adam Blackstock
percussive notes 74 MAY 2012