McCormick Percussion Group: Strings & Hammers

Fresh from Ravello Records is The McCormick Percussion Group’s STRINGS & HAMMERS. In this latest offering, the MPG tackles a program of new and politically charged works. They are joined by the violin-bass-piano trio Strings and Hammers. Together, the ensemble of string and percussion players employs rhythm, eccentric timbres, and even their own yelping, whispering voices to express powerfully relevant themes. The McCormick Percussion Group has never shied away from contentious issues, and this album is no different. It opens with Piano Concerto: Solution, in which frantic piano lines and impassioned claps and stomps reflect deep frustration with the modern political scene in the United States. A direct response to Toni Morrison’s call for all artists to “get to work” in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, this piece is a staunch rebuke against misogyny and racism in all of its forms. Memento Mori takes a similar tack; it is a badly-needed reminder of mortality and the frai