Aguas da Amazonia by Philip Glass. © 2025 Third Coast Percussion

Spotlight

Striking, Varied, Inventive and Unusual

KEITH BRAMICH takes a trip down the Amazonian rivers of Brazil, courtesy of Philip Glass, Constance Volk and Third Coast Percussion

'... all highly approachable ...'

 

This new album may sound fluid and complex, but its history is also a little complicated. The music, which has something of the quality of minimalist classical, new age and jazz, is inspired by the various waters of South America's Amazon basin. American composer Philip Glass (born 1937) wrote Aguas da Amazonia, Sete ou oito peças para um balé (Waters of the Amazon, seven or eight pieces for a ballet), originally for piano, between 1993 and 1999, for the Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo, based in Belo Horizonte.

The music was arranged by Brazilian group Uakti's founder and artistic director Marco Antônio Guimarães for woodwind, keyboards and various esoteric percussion instruments, and this seems to have been the first time that music by Glass had been arranged by anyone else, with Glass describing the result as 'a true melding of my music with their sensibilities'.

Uakti's 1999 album greatly impressed the members of Chicago-based group Third Coast Percussion (TCP), who later began arranging and performing the music for their own instruments, including almglocken - tuned cowbells, glockenspiel, marimba, melodica, vibraphone and synthesizer. Then, in 2023, TCP was approached by American choreographer, dancer and writer Twyla Tharp (born 1941) with the idea of re-arranging the music again for another dance project, and using a different set of unusual and bespoke percussion instruments. This album is one result of this new arrangement.

Listen — Philip Glass: Xingu River (Aguas da Amazonia)
(1 98883 46071 1 track 8, 1:58-2:38) ℗ 2025 Third Coast Percussion :

The whole project seems to have been made possible by TCP's production manager, Colin Campbell, who found, designed, built, amplified and recorded various of the percussion instruments here, which include two marimas - one made from red oak planks and another from glass, a set of chromatically tuned PVC pipes, a West Africian djembe drum and a tunable tongue drum. Added to the mix are various synthesizers and the imaginative flute playing of American artist Constance Volk, who often adds her own solos to the mix. She also designed the album's distinctive artwork.

Listen — Philip Glass: Japurá River (Aguas da Amazonia)
(1 98883 46071 1 track 4, 0:00-0:57) ℗ 2025 Third Coast Percussion :

The movements of this piece are named after just a few of the many different rivers in the Amazon basin which flow through Brazil, including the Amazon river itself. Here, the music begins softly and slowly, building gradually over its nearly four minutes to a frenzied but still jazzy climax.

Listen — Philip Glass: Amazon River (Aguas da Amazonia)
(1 98883 46071 1 track 1, 2:54-3:49) ℗ 2025 Third Coast Percussion :

I can't find any fault with the arrangements, performances or the recording, and some of the movements, such as Paru River, are extremely beautiful.

Listen — Philip Glass: Paru River (Aguas da Amazonia)
(1 98883 46071 1 track 9, 1:46-2:32) ℗ 2025 Third Coast Percussion :

Occasionally there's something of the feel of 'easy listening' or elevator music, but it's all highly approachable and yet still very striking, varied, inventive and unusual.

Copyright © 19 January 2025 Keith Bramich,
Herefordshire, UK

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