Virtuosity on show in afternoon beat

MATTRA Matthew Goddard and Tracey Patten, percussion Kettering Community Hall, March 25

A HEALTHY- SIZED audience flocked to Kettering Community Hall for an afternoon of varied and engaging percussion duo music from MATTRA, Matthew Goddard and Tracey Patten.

Light as a Feather by Roland Stolk opened the program with a gentle but contemporary series of harmonically contorting layers and lines. The many sonic qualities of two drum sets were then explored in Antiphon for Two Drummers by Paul Sarcich.

Here MATTRA possessed an easy focus throughout this virtuosic work, with Goddard’s rapid alternation between clapping and drums impressive and exciting.

Also by Sarcich, Elegy for George was a beautiful and resonant piece for marimba duo where long single-note rolls caused melody to fade in almost unnoticed as if an apparitional presence with hints of bells and warm synth-pads belying the wooden material of the instrument.

Next was a trio of tango-inspired pieces by Astor Piazzolla; Zita from Suite Trioleana II, Mort from Suite Lumiere, and the iconic Libertango.

Mort from Suite Lumiere was the most convincing of the three, where the feeling of searching, whether anxious or purposeful, was naturally conveyed and the ending convincing.

Desert Celebration for Two Djembes by Matt Savage explored the African instruments’ capabilities with confident virtuosity, contrasted well by the Marimba’s resonance in Nathan Daughtery’s Edge of the World.

The afternoon closed with a reimagining of Steve Reich’s iconic minimalist work Clapping Music, where drums are gradually substituted in the place of the claps.

This was an enjoyable afternoon of confident yet relaxed virtuosity.