New Compositions for Percussion Duo

The submitted videos are a representation of recent performances and world premieres of commissions by Dr. Andrea Venet’s percussion duo, Escape Ten. Escape Ten is an ensemble in residence at the UNF School of Music with Dr. Annie Stevens (Virginia Tech). The first video is of a new composition, 2300 Degrees, by Ivan Trevino. Trevino held a musical residence at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY and was greatly affected by observing glass blower Lino Tagliapietra work. Ivan states “In order to recreate the feelings I felt while watching Lino work, I decided to create a piece with a stream of unrelenting notes, while at times having each player play in time signatures different than the other. As you can imagine, this is a very challenging piece to play, and the most difficult duo I've written.” The second video contains two pieces, the first entitled Clear Midnight by Michael Burritt, followed by Fastlane by Hungarian composer Aurél Holló. Clear Midnight is a continuous two-movement work connected by a drum interlude, and is inspired by the poem 'A Clear Midnight' by Walt Whitman. The piece showcases interjectory and organic uses of the drums in a homogenous manner within the marimba texture. What is most unique about the work is that the performers are required to sing while playing their instruments in the middle section, eliciting an immediate, visceral response from the listener. Fastlane is by Aurél Holló, who is most notable for his wide breadth of performances with the internationally acclaimed Hungarian percussion ensemble Amadinda. Holló’s musical influences include music by György Ligeti and Balinese Gamelan, a very rhythmic and percussive music with a heavy emphasis on repeated, interlocking patterns called kotekan by idiophones and gong chimes. You can hear these influences in timbre and rhythm in Fastlane. A supplemental video of Clear Midnight is also provided: https://youtu.be/qfRen2JS2zA