Six percussionists striking wooden planks for an hour might not sound like a great idea, until you hear Timber by Michael Gordon. Guest curator Helena Basilova was captivated when she first encountered this modern classic. It was the first piece she selected for this edition of the festival, and the reason wood became the theme. Naturally, the performance is in the hands of HIIIT, for whom Gordon originally composed the piece in 2009 (then under the name Slagwerk Den Haag).
Gordon, co-founder of the New York collective Bang on a Can, is known for radical projects influenced by underground rock. Following Timber’s success, he composed other monochrome works for bassoons, cellos, and electric guitars. Timber is the foundational piece in this series, a meditation on sound and rhythm that pushes the physical endurance and technical mastery of the percussionists to new heights. Gordon envisioned the work as a journey through the desert.
The piece consists of five continuous sections, where the swelling and fading of rhythms create a hypnotic effect. Through intense interplay, the musicians seem to transform into a single body. It is performed on simantras, hardwood instruments that resemble simple planks but possess a remarkable resonance. Originally developed by composer Iannis Xenakis, the simantra has deep roots in Orthodox church traditions and Greek culture.