We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Restless, Endless, Tactless: Johanna Beyer and the Birth of American Percussion Music

by Meehan/Perkins Duo & The Baylor Percussion Group

supported by
David Beardsley
David Beardsley thumbnail
lgpo
lgpo thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    includes PDF liner notes
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9.99 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Restless, Endless, Tactless: Johanna Beyer and the Birth of American Percussion Music via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 4 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15.99 USD or more 

     

1.
IV 02:02
buy track
2.
Percussion Music: I. Alla Marcia 02:39
buy track
3.
Percussion Music: II. Moderato 02:49
buy track
4.
Percussion Music: III. Rondino 01:45
buy track
5.
Percussion, opus 14 03:20
buy track
6.
Vigilante 1938 (A Dance) 05:22
buy track
7.
March 03:15
buy track
8.
Auto Accident 02:48
buy track
9.
Three Inventories of Casey Jones: One 00:52
buy track
10.
Three Inventories of Casey Jones: Two 03:38
buy track
11.
Three Inventories of Casey Jones: Three 00:52
buy track
12.
Three Movements for Percussion: Restless 03:11
buy track
13.
Three Movements for Percussion: Endless 10:14
buy track
14.
Three Movements for Percussion: Tactless 04:37
buy track
15.
Dance Rhythms 03:13
buy track
16.
Waltz 03:19
buy track
17.
Percussion Suite: I 05:10
buy track
18.
Percussion Suite: II 02:34
buy track
19.
Percussion Suite: III 05:46
buy track
20.
Return 05:12
buy track

about

|| Music by Johanna Beyer, Henry Cowell, Doris Humphrey, Gerald Strang, John J. Becker, Harold Davidson, and Ray Green ||

The radical changes in Western music in the 20th century took many forms. While tonality was recast in the 1920s, it was in the 1930s that a pivotal step in the “liberation of sound” occurred, with composers experimenting with percussion instruments as if they were a new discovery. A genre was born—the percussion ensemble—that by its nature was a pliable idiom, clear and free for exploration.

After the premiere of Varèse’s Ionisation in New York in 1933, the “percussion orchestra” became the new avant-garde. Percussion was seen as not only the last frontier of traditional instrumentation, but also as expressive of the machine age and the rhythm of modern life. American composers saw it as especially their own: a music of American energy and experimentation, as well as a revolution in music not derived from European ideas.

This historic recording at last presents some of the most overlooked efforts from the early period of percussion music (only Johanna Beyer’s IV and Henry Cowell’s Return are known to have been previously recorded). All from the 1930s, these works are connected through the activity of Cowell. It spotlights the surprisingly different directions composers took in this new idiom.

Some works are overtly programmatic and even satiric (Davidson, Green, and Russell), yet they experiment with unconventional playing techniques, found objects as instruments, and the playful contortion of traditional musical forms. The inclusion of the Humphrey exhibits the beginning of a long relationship between modern dance and percussion, which became furthered in the work of John Cage after he became acquainted with these pieces.

Perhaps most striking are the works by Beyer, whose conceptual and process-based aesthetic presaged the most daring American experimental music for years to come. Her complete works for percussion form the core of this collection of seminal works.

credits

released January 6, 2011

Meehan/Perkins Duo & The Baylor Percussion Group

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

New World Records image

New World Records Brooklyn, New York

Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc., which records under the label New World Records, was founded in 1975.

We are dedicated to the documentation of American music that is largely ignored by the commercial recording companies.

contact / help

Contact New World Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Restless, Endless, Tactless: Johanna Beyer and the Birth of American Percussion Music, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featured guests are the golden-voiced Baby Rose and psyche soulsters Brainstory.
listen now