Featured Composition: Sonata for Percussion (large ensemble) by Joseph Pastor

Joseph Pastor’s Sonata for Percussion for large percussion ensemble is a lyrical, twenty-minute work in three movements. The score calls for 10 players: 4 mallet players, 4 auxiliary percussionists, a timpanist, and a piano player. The first movement bounces seamlessly between a march-feel and a 12/8 swing/jazzy groove. The second movement utilizes a melodic adagio melody that floats above soft cymbal accompaniment. The work concludes with a flying third movement that features riveting chromatic lines and a dramatic finale. This harmonic work of percussion ensemble literature is great for college and professional ensembles and advanced high school groups. For audio samples from each movement, click HERE.

Featured Book: The 2010 MassChap Xylophone Collection

The 2010 MassChap Xylophone Collection was compiled by Samuel Solomon and released at the Massachusetts Day of Percussion last March. This collection consists of 50 great new etudes! (even more than its older brother, the 2008 Snare Drum Collection). Thirty-two of the etudes were selected as competition winners and were submitted by composers and percussionists from around the world. The other eighteen were written by invited composers, including Joseph Pereira (LA Philharmonic), Lee Vinson (Boston Symphony Orchestra), and compiler Samuel Solomon (Boston Conservatory). For a great new book of xylophone solos and etudes with incredible variety, check out the 2010 MassChap Xylophone Collection.

Featured Media: (CD) Joseph Gramley: American Deconstruction

American Deconstruction is multi-percussionist Joe Gramley’s 2000 solo release. The album consists of 5 contemporary percussion classics: multi-percussion solos Anvil Chorus (David Lang) and Cold Pressed (Dave Hollinden), marimba duo Nagoya Marimbas (Steve Reich), and marimba solos Rhythm Song (Paul Smadbeck) and Meditation Preludes (William Duckworth; marimba and almglocken). Joe is one of America’s leading solo and contemporary percussionists, and this CD, featuring important works from the solo percussion canon, is a must-have for all percussionists. Check out American Deconstruction and other Joe Gramley CDs/DVDs HERE. For audio samples from each work, click HERE.

Featured Composer: Larry Spivack

New York City composer and percussionist Larry Spivack is one of the more unique artists on the Bachovich roster. He studied at Brooklyn College and The Juilliard School with legends Arnie Lang, Saul Goodman, and Buster Bailey. As a freelance percussionist, Larry has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the American Symphony and on 39 different Broadway shows. He has written works for the Lang Percussion Company, Broadway (Kafka's Metamorphosis), the New York Shakespeare Festival (Coriolanus starring Christopher Walken), Bob Fosse and the School of American Ballet, film scores, and ABC television (a 3-second brass/percussion/synthesizer fanfare used from 1980-82!). Larry has done arranging and orchestration for Patti LaBelle and Placido Domingo. He is also the co-editor of The Dictionary of Percussion Terms in the Symphonic Literature (published by Carl Fischer) and has written a one-man show (The Tune of the Unknown Soloist) with songs and stories about his most unique experiences in music.

Larry's compositions for percussion are fun and quirky. His most frequently performed Quartet for Paper Bags has been performed around the world. Through Bachovich, you can get Larry's 3-minute Double Concertino for Timpani and Percussion (subtitled "When Professor Rhianini Met Lorenzo Spuccini") with versions for full orchestra or piano reduction. This short work features soloists on timpani (4 drums), xylophone, and a whole kitchen-sink of percussion gadgets (toys, whistles, sirens, solo flexatone, accessories, and "The Cymbal Guy"). To hear a sample, click HERE.

Larry is co-founder of "The Cymbal Guy," a self-crashing device for two orchestral crash cymbals that mounts on and is activated by a hi-hat foot pedal. This unique instrument is demonstrated in Larry's similarly-titled raperetta The Cymbal Guy for 8 cymbal players/actors (and an additional 3 actors). Hear it and read more HERE.

"The Cymbal Guy" will once again be on display at the Bachovich Booth (#212) at PASIC. Come by to try it and see what its all about.

Thanks Larry for all your creative contributions to the percussion world. Good luck this fall!

Highlights (October)

~Congratulations: Please join us in congratulating Bachovich Composer and Timpani Legend Stanley Leonard for his induction into the PAS Hall of Fame!! There will be a meet-and-greet at the Bachovich Booth at PASIC. More info soon!

~Come see us at PASIC: Booth #212. Also, look out for our PASIC Special in our November newsletter!

~Winners: The IronWorks Percussion Duo announces its 3rd Annual Composition Contest Winners. Selected works to be published by Bachovich. Find out more HERE.


~Bachovich Welcomes New Composers:

Daniel Adams
Diffusion Two for snare drum quartet
Concerto for euphonium and percussion quintet

Dave Gerhart
Quartet in F Major (mvt. 2) - Ravel, arr. for marimba quartet by Dave Gerhart
PanSon for steel band
Baila Alegre for steel band
Tribute for percussion duet

Diana Sussman
Said the Devoted to the Skeptical: A Dance of Discovery for solo marimba
Depart, Depart from Solid Earth for marimba, cello, soprano saxophone, and baritone saxophone


~Other New Works from Your Favorite Bachovich Composers:

Robert McClure
A Natural Regression for solo marimba and solo prepared vibraphone
Integrated Elements No. 3 for gyil and fixed media

Javier Diaz
Sakpatá for percussion ensemble and tape

Sean Statser
Enough Said for percussion duet and jazz ensemble

Andrew Beall
Seven To Queens for solo timpani


~We've Gone Global: Bachovich continues to expand, with sales in Ireland, Lithuania, Costa Rica, Japan, France, Belgium, Poland, England, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, China, Taiwan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Hungary.