Between Breaths Third Coast Percussion

• Missy Mazzoli (b. 1980): Millennium Canticles:
• 1 Mazzoli: Millennium Canticles: Part 1. Famous Disaster Psalm 02:00
• 2 Mazzoli: Millennium Canticles: Part 2. The Doubter’s Litany 02:32
• 3 Mazzoli: Millennium Canticles: Part 3. Bloodied Bells 06:12
• 4 Mazzoli: Millennium Canticles: Part 4. Choir of the Holy Locusts 02:46
• 5 Mazzoli: Millennium Canticles: Part 5. Survival Psalm 01:51
• Third Coast Percussion:
• 6 Percussion: In Practice 1. 09:00
• 7 Percussion: In Practice 2. 08:10
• Tyondai Braxton (b. 1978):
• 8 Braxton: Sunny X 11:20
• Ayanna Woods (b. 1992):
• 9 Woods: Triple Point 05:15
• Gemma Peacocke:
• 10 Peacocke: Death Wish 09:45
• Total Runtime 58:51

Info for Between Breaths

Grammy Award-winning Chicago-based percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion (Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, David Skidmore) presents Between Breaths, an album of world premieres of works by four contemporary composers, plus a new work by the quartet itself.

Known for their captivating performances and innovative approach to modern classical music, TCP has been praised for “commandingly elegant” (New York Times) performances and the “rare power” (Washington Post) of their recordings.

Between Breaths, a follow up to TCP’s widely praised 2022 album, Perspectives, “continues to push percussion in new directions, blurring musical boundaries and beguiling new listeners” (NPR). The works on Between Breaths explore aspects of meditation in sound, incorporate unconventional timbres and tones, invite listeners to lose themselves within a captivating sonic landscape.

Missy Mazzoli’s five-movement Millennium Canticles transports listeners into a vivid realm where a group of people strive to recreate the rituals and stories of human life after an apocalypse. Mazzoli skillfully crafts an evocative soundscape using diverse elements such as wooden planks, resonant metal pipes, tone chimes, drums, discordant metallic tones, a resounding lion’s roar, and an array of vocal expressions.

In Practice, a collaborative composition by TCP, began as a sound meditation drawing upon the personal rituals of the quartet’s members, from a warm-up routine to using sounds created with everyday objects. This source material laid the foundation for the work, which developed its own sense of direction and purpose, with an atmosphere of meditation and balance.

Tyondai Braxton’s Sunny X juxtaposes otherworldly acoustic and electronic timbres against a steady rhythmic drive. Within this sonic tapestry, resonant wooden planks, metallic pipes and plates, and an array of gongs and woodblocks contribute to a distinctive and immersive experience.

Chicagoan Ayanna Woods’ Triple Point refers to the unique state where a substance simultaneously exists as a gas, liquid, and solid due to temperature and pressure conditions, which results in liquids bubbling into gas, rapidly freezing, exploding, and melting into liquid again. Woods’ composition mirrors this phenomenon, as it encapsulates moments of dynamic energy and musical elements that rise to the surface and dissolve again.

Gemma Peacocke’s Death Wish, composed in tribute to Hinewirangi Kohu-Morgan, a Māori artist, poet, and activist, has become a staple of TCP’s repertoire. Performed by four players on two marimbas, the music creates a powerful landscape of melancholy, personal devastation, and hope.

Notes by Third Coast Percussion: The daily rituals that ground us, and the moments of meditative pause that modern life rarely affords, have been top of mind for us and many of our collaborators of late. The percussionist’s vast garden of unfamiliar timbres creates many opportunities for getting lost in a sound, and we have long found that the visually engaging physical actions that create these sounds evoke ritual for many of our collaborators and audience members.

Third Coast Percussion

Third Coast Percussion
Hailed by The New Yorker as “vibrant” and “superb,” Third Coast Percussion explores and expands the extraordinary sonic possibilities of the percussion repertoire, delivering exciting performances for audiences of all kinds. Formed in 2005, Third Coast Percussion has developed an international reputation with concerts and recordings of inspiring energy and subtle nuance.

These “hard-grooving” musicians (New York Times) have become known for ground-breaking collaborations across a wide range of disciplines, including concerts and residency projects with engineers at the University of Notre Dame, architects at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, astronomers at the Adler Planetarium, and more. The ensemble has also designed free iPhone and iPad apps that allow audience members to create their own musical performances and take a deeper look at the music performed by Third Coast Percussion.

Third Coast Percussion is the Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, a position they assumed in 2013. They have the honor of being the first ensemble at the University of Notre Dame to create a permanent and progressive ensemble residency program at the center. Third Coast Percussion performs multiple recitals annually as part of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s Presenting Series, engages with the local community, and leads interdisciplinary projects in collaboration with a wide range of disciplines across campus.

Third Coast’s recent and upcoming concerts and residencies include the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), De Doelen (Rotterdam), the Barbican (London), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Town Hall Seattle, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival (CO), Eastman Kilbourn Recital Series (NY), St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Liquid Music Series (MN), Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis, National Gallery of Art (DC), University of Chicago Presents, the Austin Chamber Music Festival, and more. Third Coast has introduced percussion to chamber music audiences in Texas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Illinois, securing invitations to return to many of these series.

Third Coast’s passion for community outreach includes a wide range of residency offerings while on tour, in addition to a long-term residency with the Holy Cross/Immaculate Heart of Mary Marimba Ensemble on Chicago’s South Side. In addition to its national performances, Third Coast Percussion’s hometown presence includes an annual Chicago series, with four to five concerts in locations around the city. The ensemble has collaborated in concert with a wide range of artists and performing ensembles including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Eighth Blackbird, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Signal, and video artists Luftwerk.

The members of Third Coast Percussion —Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore—hold degrees in music performance from Northwestern University, the Yale School of Music, the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and Rutgers University. Third Coast Percussion performs exclusively with Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets.

This album contains no booklet.