“Timber” inspires collaboration between Bent Frequency and Chamber Cartel | EarRelevant

Mark Gresham | 28 SEP 2022

Atlanta, GA— Contemporary music ensemble Bent Frequency will open its 2022-2023 season this Friday, September 30, with a performance of Timber, a monolithic evening-length work by composer Michael Gordon. The concert will take place at Kopleff Recital Hall at 8:00 pm and will be free and open to the public. Bent Frequency is partnering with another venerable contemporary music ensemble, Chamber Cartel, for this unique concert.

Composed in 2009, Timber is a percussion sextet scored for six 2x4s of varying lengths known as “simantras.” For centuries these simple instruments have been used for a call to prayer in Eastern Orthodox religions. They were first incorporated into Western music by Iannis Xenakis in the late 20th century. Through the stark instrumentation and the subtle shifting of accents and rhythmic patterns among the six players, Gordon creates a beautiful meditation on sound and rhythm, bringing the physicality, endurance, and technique of percussion performance to a new level.

The six percussionists performing Timber on Friday will be Stuart Gerber (Bent Frequency’s co-artistic director), Caleb Herron (artistic director of Chamber Cartel), Jeremy Muller, Khesner Oliveira, Joseph Petrasek, and Victor Pons.

EarRelevant’s publisher and principal writer Mark Gresham recently communicated with Gerber and Herron about this collaboration between the two prominent Atlanta-based ensembles. The Q&A below draws from that conversation and is lightly edited for length and clarity.

• • •

Mark Gresham: How did this particular collaboration develop between Bent Frequency and Chamber Cartel?

Stuart Gerber: Caleb and I were discussing plans for our individual seasons in a general sense back in April, and because Bent Frequency has only done one “percussion” concert (last May), I was thinking of trying to program Timber, a major percussion piece that doesn’t get played very often. When I mentioned this to Caleb, he said he was planning that too. It was a bit of a coincidence, but we decided that although it is a “simple” piece in terms of concept and sonic material, it is a huge piece in terms of performance and preparation time. Therefore, we had to ensure we had the right players for the job and the budget to pay the players and make the instruments. It made sense to pool our resources for the project.

Caleb Herron: As you may know, I studied under Stuart during my undergrad at GSU. He was my first teacher to expose me to the wonderful world of contemporary music when I saw his first recital at GSU in Kopleff Hall. I went to many Bent Frequency concerts in the early 2000s when they had just formed. Those experiences profoundly impacted me when forming other music ensembles – the Devil May Care Duo, Cerberus Percussion Trio, and Ensemble Kunst. The latter two are now defunct. Then came Chamber Cartel.

Since I’m a percussionist, I see contemporary music through that lens. I knew I wanted to perform another major percussion work this season. I remember seeing Nief-Norf perform Timber in Atlanta in October 2013 at Erikson Clock. So, it was serendipitous that we were both thinking about putting on this project!

MG: What are your personal observations about Timber and the challenges such an hour-long piece pose?

SG: From a performance perspective, concentration is a biggie. This piece explores the timbres of the different planks of wood through dynamic and rhythmic variation. The rhythmic component is very complex, so concentration is essential. Also, we all play almost straight for 60 minutes; therefore, technique and stamina are being tested, unlike any other pieces. Usually, percussionists sit for a long time in the orchestra, then play a given section, then rest again. This piece is almost the exact opposite of that.

Stuart Gerber

From an audience perspective, 60-plus minutes is a long time to remain seated in a space with no break, especially when it’s such a stark and homogenous sound. However, the way Michael Gordon composed the piece, it is also very magical, meditative, and immersive. The psychoacoustics created by the swells and rhythmic shifts in the score, amplified by the space’s acoustics, result in amazing and unique sonic events. Sometimes when we’re rehearsing, the harmonics created by our boards sound like angelic voices vocalizing above the din of the wood. This piece, with the same planks of wood and players, will sound very different in different halls. So, when the audience comes to the concert to experience it, it will be a truly unique sonic experience.

Caleb Herron

CH: I love a good evening-length piece. I’ve always been drawn to things that take you out of time. Stuart is right. The concentration you must have to pull off something like this is off the charts. I’ve been fortunate enough to perform other long-form pieces before (For Philip Guston, Crippled Symmetry, Drumming, etc.), and this experience fits in that niche for me. The constant playing does stretch my technical ability, though. I feel like I’m training for a marathon playing this piece!

Again, I must echo Stuart’s comments about the audience’s part. It might seem like a chore, but once you’re in it and you don’t resist the experience, I believe you can be transported to another sonic realm, somewhere between reality and something else. It’s been great working with Stuart on this project! Our Atlanta audience is in for a real treat.

SG: Making the instruments was interesting too. Gordon started writing the score for Timber before he had decided on an instrument. He had an idea for the structure of the piece and wrote it. After he heard the sounds of simantras (planks of hardwood used in Eastern Orthodox services to call worshipers to prayer), he realized six resonant pieces of wood would work. It is possible to simply cut six different lengths of 2x4s from Home Depot and play it on those, but since the work is so long, most serious groups use a higher quality of hardwood (we’re using walnut) and also incorporate amplification in order to get the most sound and resonance from the instruments. Sourcing and cutting the boards, making the sawhorse stands, and getting the contact microphones worked out took some time. That is all on top of learning the 60 minutes of music. DJ Betsill made the boards. I had worked with DJ to make the Heaven’s Door a number of years ago and asked him to make these instruments too. They sound amazing!

CH: The simantras do sound amazing together! The overtones really coalesce nicely to make something greater than the individual parts. ■

Friday’s performance of Timber will take place at 8:00pm in Florence Kopleff Recital Hall, 15 Gilmer St SE, Atlanta, GA 30303. The concert is open to the public and admission is free.

EXTERNAL LINKS:

Bent Frequency: bentfrequency.com
Chamber Cartel: chambercartel.org

Mark Gresham is publisher and principal writer of EarRelevant. he began writing as a music journalist over 30 years ago, but has been a composer of music much longer than that. He was the winner of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism in 2003.

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