A Banging Percussion Orchestra

The Li Biao Percussion Group was established in 2005

In an orchestra setting, the percussionists are always in the back. They have big drums and other instruments like xylophones, triangles, a gong, and the occasional bird call.

It's pretty cool they can play a lot of different things, but usually they don't get much "air time" during a concert, which is why my friend YTSL and I chose to listen to a concert only featuring percussion, part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

Called From Baroque to Tango, the Li Biao Percussion Group is made of Li, who is originally from Nanjing, and five other musicians four from Germany one from Denmark. They don't seem to come together often, as they all have teaching jobs -- the Dane is based in Rio de Janeiro -- so having them perform together was a treat. Two of them also composed pieces we heard.



Li's specialty seems to be the marimba, as he played that the most, while the other musicians would alternate between marimbas, drums and other intriguing instruments making unique sounds. We heard pieces like Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major, RV93 with marimbas and drums, and even Johannes Sebastian Bach's Italian Concerto, BWV 971. It's different hearing classical music played with the marimba in particular, but Bach seems to match the instrument, with the accompaniment of a harpsichord.

Interesting set up of the instruments! Including a harpsichord

Then there were other pieces like Japanese composer Minoru Miki, who wrote Marimba Spiritual specifically for marimba virtuoso Keiko Abe. It starts off with Li playing a marimba solo and then gradually builds to include drums and ends with an energetic finish.

One arresting piece minus Li was Steve Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood. Five musicians have tuned claves, or short, thick wooden dowels and two of them are constantly playing throughout the 10-minute piece. Meanwhile others chime in and shift their speed.

Reich likes to describe it as "imagine listening to a kaleidoscope. A pattern is established, then shifts as with the click of the kaleidoscope". We were mesmerized by the synchronized beats and how well they played together.

Li had his own solo in Crossover for Snare Drum Solo by Wolfgang Reifeneder, playing four different kinds of music, military, Viennese waltz, pastoral and then "spirited", where Li even got down on his knees and hit his chair legs and anything else around him. It was fun.



The last piece was American composer Russell Peck's Lift-Off! Before they played the piece, Li warned it involved nine drums so it would be very, very loud. It required a lot of stamina to play the drums that long and together in time, rolling like waves, one set of drums very loud, then the next set, then then next, and then back again. It was thrilling to watch and hear!

After each piece, the musicians would point at Li with their marimba or drum sticks, while Li would point back at them, as if to say, "You're da man!" It was quite amusing.

Nevertheless, that was my last concert from the Hong Kong Arts Festival and glad it ended with a bang!

From Baroque to Tango, The Li Biao Percussion Group
Concert Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Centre

Rudolf Alexander Bauer, Seven Seas

Antonio Vivaldi (arr. Li Biao), Concerto in D Major, RV93
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro

Steve Reich, Music for Pieces of Wood

George Hamilton Green, Ragtime Suite

Minoru Miki, Marimba Spiritual

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Li Biao), Italian Concerto, BWV 971
Allegro
Andante
Presto

Wolfgang Reifeneder, Crossover for Snare Drum Solo
Military, traditional
Highly Viennese
Pastoral
Spirited, hilarious

Philipp Jungk, Taklamakan

Astor Piazzolla (arr. Li Biao), Escualo, La Muerte del Angel, Libertango

Russell Peck, Lift-Off!