The Architek Percussion ensemble is a Montreal quartet performing works by Canadian composers, using percussion, drums, sampling, electronics and synth in wonderfully odd ways, here with two guest performers presenting works composed and mixed by Elliot Britton.
Format: CD Condition: M Released: 2016 Country: Canada Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded at MMR McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, on Feburary 14th, 2014, by Christopher Johns.
"Architek Percussion is a Montreal-based quartet specializing in the performance of experimental, minimalist, multi-disciplinary, crossover, and electroacoustic chamber music. Founded in early 2012, the quartet has quickly established itself as a dynamic force in Canada's vibrant new music community; equally comfortable in performing classic repertoire and exploring new terrain through commissions and premieres.
In addition to self-producing an annual concert series in Montreal, Architek Percussion has recently appeared as guests of New Music Edmonton, live@CIRMMT, Innovations en Concert, Cluster Festival (Winnipeg), the Music Gallery (Toronto), and the Scotia Festival of Music (Halfiax). Appearances in 2016 include a tour supported by CAM En Tournee, a UK and Norway tour supported by Nu:Nord and Ny Musikk Norge, and a tour of Quebec and Ontario supported by Jeunesses Musicales Canada.
Architek Percussion is committed to the development and presentation of new Canadian music. The quartet has premiered over 20 new works by composers such as Adam Basanta, Eliot Britton, Taylor Brook, Christos Hatzis, Nicole Lizée, and James O'Callaghan. Architek's current repertoire reflects the cultural and stylistic diversity of North American contemporary music. Architek Percussion consists of Ben Duinker, Mark Morton, Ben Reimer, and Alessandro Valiante."-Architek Percussion website
"After the Second World War my grandparents dragged a used 1902 upright piano down the road and installed it in their living room. This is the first instrument I can remember. My grandmother's collection of yellowing song sheets sat in the piano bench my entire life with watercolour illustrations of well-dressed couples dance across each page, beaming out at the reader, overflowing with sentimentality for a dance culture that was slipping away. A beautiful memory, but eventually the piano had to go, and it would go by chainsaw. When she died, I inherited my grandmother's musical materials. Beloved music cuts a path through format, technology, and time, an idea that planted the seeds for Metatron. A more fully formed concept came from my 95-year-old grandfather. During one visit I was greeted in the garage by a dull chainsaw and a stripped-down piano. "Finish the job," he said. With grim determination and a dull tool, I dismembered my first musical experiences, thinking of the strange place technology holds in our lives."-Eliot Britton