The packaging alone is special: two boards against each other, with space in between for the CD and the booklet. Anyone who leans their fingers on the hinge point when opening it may get a blood blister, the construction is that solid. The wood refers to the simantras with which Slagwerk Den Haag performs this music by Michael Gordon - co-founder of Bang On A Can. In this case, a simantra is a tube
… of four wooden planks of tropical hardwood. The origin of the simantra is said to have to do with certain planks, such as those used in Greek churches as an alternative to bells. In Michael Gordon's composition Timber, six simantras form a circle. The six percussionists know how to elicit all kinds of resonance from their simantra (or that of their neighbor). Also on the CD you can clearly hear how the sound waves are transmitted from one player to the other, as if it were the wavy paths of the northern lights. It is exactly this that makes Timber such a fascinating experiment: the foreground shows the monochrome wood, while the actual music manages to escape into the background. (HJ)more
