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SCORED FOR: 8 percussionists--percussion 1 (H/L woodblock, ride cymbal); percussion 2 (mounted tamborine, sus cymbal, china cymbal, 2 toms, triangle, guiro, vibraslap); Percussion 3 (4 toms, high-hat, cabasa, clave, cowbell, wind chimes); percussion 4 (kick drum, shaker); percussion 5 (glockenspiel, xylophone); vibraphone; marimba 1 (low A); marimba 2 (low C).
TOTAL TIME: [5:30]
PROGRAM NOTES
AGORA
Agora, a percussion octet commissioned in 2009 by George Willis and the West Virginia University Percussion Ensemble, depicts an excursion to an open-air marketplace. As one would expect while walking through such a market, everyone has their own purpose for visiting, allowing players in the ensemble to take-on an individual character. throughout the work, players set unique grooves that do not correspond to the meter or feel of their fellow “shoppers”—for example, in one section the meters of 4/4, 5/8, 11/8, 7/8, 6/8, 3/4, and 9/8 can all be heard simultaneously. As the work unfolds, surprises from different vendors and other shoppers interrupt the eager sense of the chaos that is unraveling throughout the ensemble. Agora was inspired by the popular music of groups like U2, Peter Gabriel, and Coldplay and lasts approximately five minutes.
