Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski & Jason Treuting - Jason Treuting: Nine Numbers (2022) [Digital Download 24/96]

Sō Percussion co-founder Jason Treuting flexes his compositional chops with Nine Numbers — a sprawling work that taps into the mysteries of sudoku, the Japanese puzzle game, as a source for rhythmic exploration. Relying on percussive uses of voice, electronic and acoustic instruments, and various blocks, bells, drums and other surfaces, Treuting folds melody, movement and the plosive mechanics of speech into an ebbing and flowing sound environment that digs deep into the notion of what connects numbers to human nature, and vice-versa.

Nine Numbers 4 is a mallet quartet for two marimbas and two vibraphones written for Sō Percussion. Inspired in some ways by Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet, this three movement piece explores the bowed and struck sounds of these keyboard instruments. This piece is the fourth in a set of nine, which are sequenced from solo percussionist to nonet.

All of the pieces in Nine Numbers translate the 9 x 9 solutions of Sudoku puzzles into notes and rhythms. The number nine, with its three sets of three, contains many wonderful symmetries and fractal-like characteristics. It allows for nesting structures at the largest and smallest levels.

In the pieces for fewer players, sometimes I ask the performers to help generate the score. In the solo, duo, and trio, the performers find their own puzzle solutions, and the score is a set of instructions to translate the numbers into music. In this quartet, I present the ensemble with a finished score based on my realization of the Sudoku. Different scores will exist for different ensembles. Most of the recognizable elements of the pieces will remain fixed, but surface details can change depending on the Sudoku.

The complete work of nine pieces will be the second recording of my music on Cantaloupe Music after 2006’s Amid the Noise, featuring performances by Sō Percussion, Tigue, the Meehan/Perkins Duo, Ji Hye Jung, Sandbox Percussion, and Adam Groh. (Jason Treuting)

Tracklist:
1. Adam Groh – Nine Numbers: I. — (10:48)
2. Jason Treuting – Nine Numbers: II. — (06:40)
3. Tigue – Nine Numbers: IIIa. — (07:07)
4. Tigue – Nine Numbers: IIIb. — (04:05)
5. Tigue – Nine Numbers: IIIc. — (05:19)
6. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: IVa. Intro (00:59)
7. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: IVb. — (05:26)
8. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: IVc. — (07:58)
9. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: IVd. — (06:59)
10. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: Va. Intro (00:50)
11. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: Vb. — (12:19)
12. Meehan/Perkins Duo – Nine Numbers: VIa. Intro (01:01)
13. Meehan/Perkins Duo – Nine Numbers: VIb. — (11:12)
14. Troika Percussion Trio – Nine Numbers: VII. — (07:25)
15. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: VIIIa. Intro (00:30)
16. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: VIIIb. — (06:56)
17. So Percussion – Nine Numbers: IX. — (06:56)


Thanks to the Original customer!