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José / beFore John 5, by Aurel Hollo
Performed by UCF Percussion under the direction of Thad Anderson
Mitchell Gribbroek, Joey Noble, Christian Martin, & Karen Toney

Recorded at the University of Central Florida Rehearsal Hall Auditorium

Mallets use:
vfM114 - vfM115 - vfM31 - vfM32 - vfSNR

ABOUT THE PIECE:
The basic idea of my piece José was born when I was listening to the recording Oriental Bass by the ethnic contrabass-player Renaud Garcia-Fons. I wondered many times whether it would be possible to present his fundamentally Spanish style with it’s Arabic and Gypsy effects in an original percussion composition instead of a simple adaptation. My answer to this question is "José."

Besides Garcia-Fons’s recording I also used a theme by Paco de Lucia in this composition. Marimba has the lead through in this short character piece almost exclusively: two players standing face to face play especially virtuoso complementary motives. Most of these figures are based on the traditional xylophone music of Africa. The players use techniques of amadinda and akadinda (traditional percussion instruments from Uganda) yet the scale they cover is typically flamenco-like at the same time. In the end these two players sound a real guitar as well, with the same technique. This rhythmical-melodic source is enriched by the playing of two other musicians who create many interesting and exciting sounds for example with the Spanish cajon or the favourite instrument of Gypsy folk music, the simple sheet-iron can and many more.

I dedicate this piece of mine to Josep Vicent, former artistic leader of Amsterdam Percussion Group.

--Aurél Holló

ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE:
The University of Central Florida Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Thad Anderson, Kirk Gay, and Jeff Moore, offers students a well-rounded experiences in all facets of ensemble playing. We pride ourselves on offering our students and audiences varied programs that feature significant works for idioms such as chamber, mallet, large, historic, and world ensembles. We also frequently work with composers to commission and premiere new works for percussion ensemble. Some of these recent projects have included collaborations with Marc Mellits, Jonathan Kolm, Bill Ryan, D.J. Sparr, Paul Lansky, David Bennet Thomas, Charles Griffin, James Norman, and Zack Browning. The debut UCF Percussion album titled “Patterns” is due out in November and will feature new quartets for two marimbas and two vibraphones.