In Friday’s (3/20) New York Times, Vivien Schweitzer writes, “Even in symphonic works with significant percussion parts, the performers are usually heard but not seen, hidden behind throngs of string players. But for one work at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday evening, an array of percussion instruments—including marimbas, vibraphone, Turkish hand drums and Arabic tambourine—were lined up in front of the New York Philharmonic. Zubin Mehta, who was the orchestra’s music director from 1978 to 1991, was presenting the American premiere of ‘Spices, Perfumes, Toxins!,’ a concerto by the Israeli composer Avner Dorman, as part of the Hear & Now series hosted by the composer Steven Stucky. The soloists were the two musicians—Tomer Yariv and Adi Morag, collectively known as PercaDu, a percussion and marimba duo—who had inspired Mr. Dorman’s concerto and given its premiere in 2006 in Tel Aviv, with Mr. Mehta leading the Israel Philharmonic.”
Posted March 23, 2009
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