Spotify Orchestra: Four Playlists for Percussion

Spotify Orchestra is an ongoing series that focuses on the instruments, featuring playlists curated by professional players. Previous posts including Horn, Trumpet, Harp and Theremin. Below is a guest post by percussion virtuoso Thad Anderson. Thad made four wonderful playlists that cover lots of exciting percussion music from drum improvisation by Glenn Kotche (of Wilco fame) to Steven Schick's breathtaking performance of Xenakis. I discovered many unknown gems in his playlists, and hope you find them helpful as well. 

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Percussion music is incredibly eclectic. Not necessarily eclectic as in taste, but eclectic in style and instrumentation. A violinist plays one instrument, a violin, but a percussionist plays hundreds, maybe even thousands. The word percussion, by definition, does not refer to a single object or instrument. It describes a family of instruments, which then includes sub-categories, such as keyboard percussion, multiple percussion, accessory percussion, membranophones, idiophones; the list goes on and I still haven't even mentioned a singular instrument. This is all to say that classical or contemporary percussion music is vast and wide-ranging.

The following four playlists represent suggested listening. They are not intended to be a catch-all of everything that has been recorded, but rather some of the most creative and significant works composed for percussion instruments (listed in no particular order).

Percussion - New Releases (79 tracks, 8 hours)



The past year or so have been particularly good for listeners seeking great percussion recordings. Here are some of the best new releases from the genre. I will continue to update this list as new albums become available.

Percussion - Solo (26 tracks, 2 hours)



Artistry as a solo percussionist takes on many forms. I kept this list short, but it represents a good variety what is possible as a soloist behind a percussion instrument or multi-percussion set-up.

Percussion - Ensemble (71 tracks, 9 hours)



The Percussion Ensemble is a 20th-century invention. It has really turned into an incredible compositional tool and means of expression.

Percussion - Mixed Chamber (54 tracks, 6 hours)



Percussionists make for great collaborators and there is no better example than in chamber music. This playlist includes great works that feature percussionist with a mixture of non-percussion instruments.

Guest post by Thad Anderson, a member of the percussion faculty at The University of Central Florida. In addition to the percussion area, he also teaches courses in music composition and technology. Anderson is a versatile performer and pedagogue with interests that span contemporary music, historic percussion ensemble literature, design, conducting, and technology.

Guest Post: The Art of Horn

Kathryn Zevenbergen, a Spotify fan who is studying horn at Zurich University of the Arts, emailed me in July to ask me "how much do you pay attention to or value the use of original instruments when you make your playlists", and I confessed I couldn't judge recordings from that angle. That's how I got this idea about guest posts by professional musicians. I asked Kathryn to compile some playlists for her instrument, and suggested to include the slow movement of Hummel's Piano Concerto No.3 (four horns accompany the piano throughout while the rest of the orchestra go for vacation). She just sent me two great playlists with an intro. Here's Kathryn.

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The Horn Highlights playlist is my attempt to make a short playlist with the best movements written for horn.  It has a little bit of everything--obviously there are concerto movements, but there’s also some chamber music.  Now, I have to admit, I have a grudge against only listening to one movement of a piece.  If you have that bias as well, the complete version of everything on the Horn Highlights list can be found on the aptly named Horn list.  This list is everything I can think of, but if you subscribe, I will be continually adding to it, because I know for a fact that it is in no way complete.  The Horn list is not in chronological order, I prefer to listen to things mixed up a bit.  I also didn’t want to have six Mozart pieces in a row. 

A couple notes about the horn:  the first horns had no valves, and thus could not play a complete scale.  Some of the recordings I found are played on similar instruments (such as the Bach Brandenburg Concerto recording), but I couldn't always find historically informed performances performances. You can maybe hear the difference, because some notes will sound with more of a buzz than others.  The buzzy notes come from the player moving his/her hand in the bell to cover the hole, and thus the pitch changes, creating a note the instrument shouldn’t actually be able to play (this is maybe most obvious in the recording of Mozart's concerto K. 447). 

Another cool thing about horn is the amount of chamber music we can play.  I didn’t put a whole lot on this list (only my favorites) because if I put every quintet, the list would be about a year long.  Horns are very versatile in the chamber music world--although we are a brass instrument, we also play in most woodwind ensembles.

Here are the Spotify playlists: Horn Highlights (21 tracks, total time: 2 hours), and Horn (159 tracks, 14 hours) Hopefully these playlists give you a taste for everything horn!  Enjoy!

Guest post by Kathryn Zevenbergen

Guest Post: Harp Music

After one of the brightest and loudest instrument in the orchestra, the trumpet, here comes the softest and gentlest one: the harp. Ruth Mar is a harpist, teacher, and designer, who "plucks strings and pushes pixels in the Pacific Northwest." She curated two excellent playlists, with works specifically written for harp - no transcriptions. Here's Ruth:

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My aim with both these playlists is to show the harp's wide range of color.  The harp is often pigeonholed as a romantic, soothing instrument; but it's really capable of so much more! Check out especially the second Caplet Divertissement,  Holliger Praludium, and Schafer Crown of Ariadne from the Intro list for some more unusual / percussive harp sounds. Spotify has an impressive collection of harp music from reputable artists; I've discovered several few works I'd never heard before (including the Genzmer from the chamber music list).

I tried to balance between both standard and lesser known works and feature a variety of the excellent artists on Spotify. Both lists also only include works written originally for harp.

Harp Music Intro (27 tracks, 2 hours) - A mix of solo works and concerti movements. I arranged it purely according to personal preference, rather than chronologically.

Works included:
Andre Caplet / Divertissements a la francaise & a l'espagnole
George Frederic Handel / Concerto in B-flat Major, Mvt. 1
Alphonse Hasselmans / La Source
Paul Hindemith / Sonate, Mvt. 1
Benjamin Britten / Fugue from Suite, Op. 83 and Interlude from A Ceremony of Carols
Dittersdorf / Concerto in A, Larghetto
Srul Irving Glick / King David Sonata, II. David and Saul
David Watkins / Fire Dance from Petite Suite
Carlos Salzedo / Quietude and Whirlwind from 5 Preludes
W.A. Mozart / Concerto for Flute and Harp K 299, II. Andantino
Marcel Grandjany / Children's Hour Suite
Marcel Tournier / Vers la Source dans le Bois
Heinz Holliger / Praludium from Praludium, Arioso and Passacaglia
Gabriel Faure / Une Chatelaine en sa tour…
Lynn Wainwright Palmer / Prelude and Sarabande from Classical Suite
Gabriel Faure / Impromptu, Op. 86
Kelly-Marie Murphy / Star from Illuminations
Henriette Renie / Danse des Lutins
Joaquin Rodrigo / Concerto Serenade, 3. Sarao
Marjan Mozetich / Freedom from Songs of Nymphs
R. Murray Schafer / Ariadne's Dance from The Crown of Ariadne
Carlos Salzedo / Ballade, Op. 28
Claude Debussy / Danses Sacree et Profane

Harp Chamber Music (35 tracks, 2 hours)

I really believe that the harp shines in chamber music. It blends beautifully with a wide spectrum of instruments and voice types; and can easily move between accompaniment and solo roles. The smaller instrumentation also allows it to be heard clearly. For this list, full works are included.

Works included:
Claude Debussy / Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp
Sebastien Currier / Night Time for Violin and Harp
Camille Saint-Saens / Fantaisie pour violon et harp, Op. 124
Vincent Persechetti / Serenade No. 10 for flute and harp
Andre Jolivet / Chant de Linos for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Harp
Harald Genzmer / Trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp
Arnold Bax / Elegaic Trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp
Anonymous / Nocturne for horn and harp
Benjamin Britten / Canticle V: The Death of St. Narcissus, Op. 89 for tenor and harp
Marcel Tournier / La Lettre Du Jardinier pour chant et harpe
Andre Caplet / Conte fantastique for harp and string quartet
Jean Cras / Quintette for flute, harp and strings
Adrian Schaposhnikov / Sonata for flute and harp
Maurice Ravel / Introduction et Allegro for flute, clarinet, string quartet and harp

Guest post by Ruth Mar

Guest Post: The Art Of The Trumpet

I always planned to make playlists for every major instruments in the orchestra, problem is, I'm not a musician or musicologist, so I think it's better to share such playlists made by the professionals. Luckily, last week I stumbled upon this nice article: Spotify: What It Means For Classical Music Fans during my daily monitoring of everything Spotify and Classical, and found out the author Sam Callahan is a trumpet player and student at Indiana University's renowned Jacobs School of Music (Xenakis taught there and established a studio). I asked Sam if he would like to share a playlist of his favorite recordings of the trumpet repertoire, and he made two! Here's Sam:

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The Trumpet Solo Shortlist (18 tracks, 1 hour) is an introduction to music for trumpet soloist and accompaniment drawn from the more complete playlist below. It features a movement or two from the repertoire's seminal multi-movement works, a few shorter one-movement pieces, and a small sampling of modern trumpet music. The playlist is in approximate chronological order, beginning in the Baroque era and ending with arrangements of music originally written for other instruments. I chose my personal favorite recording of each piece, usually leaning towards period instrument performances (done on a valveless trumpet by Niklas Eklund) when it came to the older works.

This longer playlist Trumpet Solo Works (221 tracks, 14 hours) is still only a portion of Spotify's amazing collection of trumpet solo music. Most pieces are for trumpet and orchestra or piano accompaniment, but some pieces, like Henze's thrilling Sonatina, are for trumpet alone. The playlist includes the full album for each Shortlist track and much more, including many lesser-known gems (check out Handel's gorgeous "Eternal Source of Light Divine, performed by Niklas Eklund.) There are also a few arrangements of pieces not originally for trumpet on albums by Alison Balsom and Maurice Andre. These are magnificent demonstrations of the instrument's full range of capabilities.

Guest post by Sam Callahan

Spellbound: The Sound of The Theremin

Another guest playlist! I got an email from Martin last weekend:

"A couple of contemporary female composers you might like to add to your excellent playlist on this are the Austrian Olga Neuwirth and the Japanese Misato Mochizuki. There is little on Spotify but you will find one piece by Mochizuki and some music for Theremin by Olga Neuwirth."

"Since I mentioned the Theremin in my last mail I thought you might be interested in this playlist of music for this little known and very bizarre electronic instrument that has been used to play very romantic pieces as well as inspired some composers to use it in contemporary works."

I have added in those two composers into the women composers playlist. And thanks to Martin, I finally found out about this peculiar thing that played that dreamy and quirky sound in Hitchcock's Spellbound. I've heard one piece by Clara Rockmore before, in a interesting compilation called OHM- The Gurus of Electronic Music, and I always remembered it as Trip-Hop of the 1940s. It's great that now I can explore a whole lot of works written for and performed on this instrument.

Here's the Spotify playlist from Martin: Theremin. (90 tracks, 6.9 hours). Thanks Martin! I think instrument playlists is a great idea, I'm going to make some others, and if any of the readers here is specialized in any instrument, it would be great to see your playlists too:)