Another composer who lives up to his titles, Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), wrote perhaps the most voluptuous orchestral music of the 20th century. A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden (Deutsche Grammophon) shimmers with sizzling harp glissandi, thwapping guitar strings, and flutes that warble, growl, and coo. Although a prolific film score composer, Takemitsu masterfully melded extended forms and exotic orchestral colors without sacrificing tension or gnomic detours into near-silent desolation.
Unlike most composers, both Steve Reich and George Crumb have benefited from multiple recordings of their works. Renowned for now- classic minimalist pieces such as Music for 18 Musicians and Tehillim, Reich interlocks and overlays melodic and rhythmic cells to weave a lively, undulating tapestry of sound. So Percussion's recent recording of Drumming (Cantaloupe) not only brims with manic propulsive energy, (minus the fake-o reverb on the 1987 Nonesuch recording) but triumphantly unleashes Reich's cascading stampedes of bongos and glockenspiels.
Another must-hear: George Crumb's Makrokosmos, Vols I and II (Bridge). By amplifying the piano though loudspeakers, Crumb's techniques of placing springs on strings, asking the pianist to whistle, tapping the piano's innards like a hammered dulcimer, and playing softly athwart the threshold of hearing transform the piano into a creaky echoing orchestra of levers, pulleys, and planed surfaces. CHRISTOPHER DeLAURENTI
