Sun 2/11 @ 2PM
Go to the beach and take the kids with you? In February? Maybe. Third Coast Percussion’s new CD, Paddle to the Sea (Cedille Records), provides at least the sound effects for seaside dreams. And if you choose to attend the Third Coast Percussion concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Gartner Auditorium on Sun 2/11 @ 2pm you can watch the original Paddle to the Sea (1966 film) with Third Coast Percussion playing an updated soundtrack to accompany it as part of their concert. The whole program is about 70 minutes without intermission (in case you are wondering if the children can take it).
Paddle to the Sea is the 2017 Grammy Award-winning ensemble’s newest CD offering. Commissioned in part by the Cleveland Museum of Art, it includes more than the film soundtrack. It opens with “Madeira River,” a brief Philip Glass piece that speaks of joy personified as moving water and perhaps pattering raindrops. The next tracks (about 34 minutes total), created to accompany the film, leave no doubt about those raindrops (at least to these ears) and the water sounds, evoked by brushes and touches on drums, marimba, and other percussion instruments, rush from rainfall to the sea to the lighthouse.
Other tracks in this beautiful collection include “Chigwaya,” a traditional Shona work from Zimbabwe that features a thumb piano. It produces an intriguing sound. In addition there’s “Reflections on the Nature of Water” (composed by Jacob Druckman) with segments arranged by Glass, and Third Coast Percussion members David Skidmore, Peter Martin, Robert Dillon and Sean Connors.
All in all, it’s over an hour and a half of music that inspires memories of the sea breezes, waves lapping, sunshine, beach walking, and good feelings. Curious? See a short preview of Paddle to the Sea or read about the musicians and their other works here.
For tickets to the concert go to clevelandart/third-coast-percussion-paddle-to-the-sea or call 216-421-7350.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]
