Drums and Dvorák

Portland State Percussion Ensemble

“Many percussionists spend a lot of time at the back of the orchestra, following a conductor and playing accompanying parts to other sections of the orchestra,” said Jeffery Peyton, acting director of the percussion studies program at Portland State. “In percussion ensemble, these players get the opportunity to play the melodic parts.”

This Sunday, the Portland State Percussion Ensemble gets to shine. They will play a range of pieces, from 18th century Handel to 1960s John Cage and Lou Harrison.

In Handel’s “Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 3,” arranged by Peyton for five marimbas, the ensemble gets to go outside the realm of typical percussion works.

“These players get the opportunity to play the melodic parts, music from other musical eras where percussion was not often incorporated. Because Handel did not write for marimba, the players never get to play music from this time period, which is a real loss,” Payton said. “So I arranged the ‘Concerto Grosso’ to provide percussionists the opportunity to play this great music.”

Russell Peck’s “Liftoff” has been compared to the sound of a shuttle blasting off and was influenced by Japanese Taiko drumming.

“It is a piece for three percussionists playing nine low drums, including six bass drums. It is a gas to play and really makes on impact on the listener,” Peyton said. “It makes it sound like you are in the middle of a tornado with the sound swirling all around you. It is a great piece.”

“Double Music,” by Cage and Harrison, is a more modern work from the 1960s. It is an experimental piece that utilizes “found” percussion instruments, such as brake drums and elephant bells.

“The players have some creativity in choosing the pitches and sonorities of their instruments,” Peyton said.

In addition to these pieces, two works written for snare by James Tenney will be also performed. Both pieces by Tenny, “Crystal Canyon” and “Wake for Charles Ives,” consist of complex and syncopated rhythms, with players greatly relying on their counting skills—and each other—to complete both pieces. 

“For folks who have not heard percussion in a chamber music setting, this concert will be a great experience,” Peyton added.

The Florestan Trio

It’s time to unplug yourself from your indie pop, hip-hop or whatever it is that you are listening to and refine your knowledge of classical music. Sunday, Nov. 20, will be the only time this year to catch the seasoned and celebrated classical music group The Florestan Trio.

The trio, along with special guest performers Theodore Arm of Northwest Chamber Ensemble and Ron Blessinger of Third Angle, will be performing three pieces that promise to move and delight listeners. 

“The trio can always be counted on to give detailed and richly rewarding performances,” Douglas Perry said in The Oregonian in 2008.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the trio, formed in part to jump-start the Portland State music department in 1977, which has since “grown in size and quality over the years, in part, because of the trio,” said cellist and professor of music Hamilton Cheifetz.

Cheifetz and Carol Sindell, a violinist, have been playing together since that time. Pianist Janet Guggenheim joined the group six years ago. Their longevity as a group “says something about the respect and affection we all have for each other,” Cheifetz said. 

The program starts with Dvorák’s Bagatelles, which Cheifetz described as “charming, like an appetizer, a warm up to the program.”

Next on the menu is Mozart’s “Piano Quartet in G Minor,” a “dramatic masterpiece, full of fire and contrast,” Chiefetz said.

And for the final and main course, Schumann’s “Piano Quintet in E-flat major” is one of the first classical works to be written for a string quartet and piano. (Schumann also happens to be the Florestan Trio’s namesake: Florestan was Schumann’s alias when the composer wrote for various musical journals.)

“He has a real heroic aspect to this piece,” Cheifetz said. “[It’s] a really triumphant expression of vigor and energy and power and vanquishing all the negative.”