Kid Stuff
Sheet Music

SKU: NX.RR7977

By Enumi Ko and Robert McCormick. By Ciro Scotto, Hilary Tann, John Liberatore, Matt Barber, and Seunghee Lee. Classical. CD. Naxos #RR7977. Published by Naxos (NX.RR7977).

UPC: 636160195784.

Juxtaposing the loud and abrasive with the soft and subtle, the McCormick Percussion Group balances tumult and tender in KID STUFF. Led by director Robert McCormick, Professor of Music at the University of South Florida in Tampa, the percussion orchestra re-imagines original compositions from five key contemporary classical composers. The first series of compositions come from John Liberatore. Titled This Living Air, the four-movement composition is a collage of percussion instruments played with the sort of delicacy and innocence that is reminiscent of childhood. The experimental compositions feature the circular frolic of glockenspiel and marimbas with Ko's piano melodies dancing in the center. Seunghee Lee composed the second track, Pung-Kyung. Experimental in nature, Ko's piano treads curiously along as the percussion group accentuates sudden strikes of sound in the xylophone, hand drums, and wood blocks. The next track Solstice, originally penned by Hilary Tann, features five acts, starting with the solemn, melancholic "Breakup 'Imperceptible Dissolution'" following through three acts to the epic conclusion of the 'Freeze-Up "Icy Silvers and Darts." The McCormick Percussion Group rounds out their album with the moody, sullen Dark Paradise by composer Ciro Scotto, followed quickly by the erratic chaos of Matt Barber's Kid Stuff: Five Figments for Piano and Percussion. Like all children, KID STUFF can seem rough around the edges, but inside there is a big heart.