Sensors III by Alcides Lanza for organ and two percussionists.
Back in the early 1980’s I was studying percussion at McGill University in Montreal with Pierre Beluse. Pierre was a wonderful teacher who really supported his students by introducing us to a wide range of newly written music. Every year of my undergrad program he was able to have the McGill Percussion Ensemble recorded by the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation) and we were heard all across Canada on CBC Radio and Radio Canada.
In 1982, two of us in the percussion class, were asked to premier a work for Organ and Percussion by Alcides Lanza called Sensors III. The organist was Leonard Raver who was the organist for the New York Philharmonic and I along with Helen Barclay played the percussion parts.
We played in a giant cathedral in Montreal. Helen and I were at the alter end of the church and the organist was about 50 yards away in the back of the church in the organ loft. Our percussion set ups included 2 sets of tom toms, cymbals, xylophones, glockenspiels, gongs, temple blocks and several other instruments that I can’t recall. What I remember was that it was a lot of stuff and great fun to play.
Sensors III was really a piece of controlled improvisation. The piece was arranged in sections with numbers and was conducted by the composer. He held up giant pieces of paper with a number which told us which section of the score we needed to be playing. I think there might have been some time indication in our music as well that told us how long the section should be like 30″, 10″, etc…
I really enjoyed it because it combined the organ which has no attack to its sound; only sustain and volume and the punctuation of our percussion instruments. It was very effective, and loud!
Here is a recording of Sensors III from the CBC Radio broadcast from 1982. Good speakers or headphones work best.
Enjoy!
