Last year, I wrote a percussion and electronics piece for the young virtuoso Melbourne-based percussionist Matthias Schack-Arnott. It was called "Bass Drum, Vibraphone, Voice and Electronics" and that pretty well describes the instrumentation. What it doesn't describe is what the voice does - the percussionist is called to yell out, act out, declaim, and otherwise improvise with some of my favorite comic book and other pop lit quotes. Matthias premiered the piece on 31 July 2009 at the Quiver concert at Richmond Uniting Church, Melbourne, and he just sent me an mp3 of the performance, recorded by the amazing Michael Hewes. I think the recording is wonderful, and so, here it is. If you want to download the mp3, you can do it here. Many thanks to Matthias for his great performance, and to Michael for his great recording.
For those of you who want to listen to it in streaming audio, just click below. And a special no-prize to anyone who can recognize all the sources for all the quotes.
Warren Burt: Bass Drum, Vibraphone, Voice and Electronics - performed by Matthias Schack-Arnott, recording by Michael Hewes.