Sandbox Percussion Presents BLOOM by Michael Torke

Sandbox Percussion, a Brooklyn-based percussion ensemble of established leaders in contemporary art music, has teamed up with the acclaimed composer Michael Torke for BLOOM, a new piece composed for the group. BLOOM uses a series of interlocking rhythms that create a groove when played together, using each player’s drums (non-pitched instruments), and vibraphone and marimbas (pitched). “Just as shoots of plants push through dirt erupting in blooms, the vibes and marimbas burst forth from the drums,” writes Torke in his program notes. “In other words, this music has an organic profile, unlike other recent pieces of mine.”

BLOOM is structured in three sets — Bloom 1, Bloom 2, and Bloom 3 — each divided into three movements: “morning,” “noon,” and “night.” Two slower movements, Stem 1 and Stem 2, are interspersed between the Bloom sets. The drums represent the earth out of which the shoots grow, which in turn are represented by the mallet instruments. Much of Torke’s music has a rhythmic profile, a physical pulse through which he takes classic minimalism to new expressive spheres, also influenced by neoclassicism and a strong sense of color. “Michael uses rhythm in his music in an intrinsic way,” says Rosenbaum, who previously recorded percussion parts for Torke’s albums PSALMS AND CANTICLES, TIME, and UNSEEN, which led to the collaboration with the full group. “Almost as soon as I started playing his music, I had the feeling that Michael and Sandbox would be a good match,” Rosenbaum adds. “Rhythms are the building blocks of the structure of many of his pieces, driving forward the emotion and the energy. It’s inspiring to find a composer who uses rhythm in a new and innovative way; we learned a lot from Michael and from this piece about how to ‘melodicize’ a rhythm.” “He also challenged us technically: In some of the more complicated parts, Michael asks us each to create a composite melody that is split between our keyboard percussion instruments and drums — that’s a particular challenge we had never encountered before.”

Although Torke usually includes a colorful array of percussion instruments in his orchestral and chamber works — tambourine, claves, cymbals, tubular bells, glockenspiel, xylophone, and vibraphone, among many others — and in 2001 composed a percussion concerto, Rapture, BLOOM is his first piece for percussion quartet alone.

“No group I’ve worked with is as committed, both to their artistry in general and to the specific project at hand, as Sandbox Percussion,” says Torke. The group first saw the work in progress in November 2023, and by May 2024 had learned and recorded the completed piece. “It turns out that the kind of music I write is the kind of music they do very well, so it is an optimal match.” “My endeavor is to carve out a place in the musical real estate — to find an expression that is unique enough to take up space in the repertory,” Torke adds. “Whether I succeed, time will be
the judge.”

The world-premiere recording of BLOOM on Ecstatic Records is available on all major streaming platforms. Physical copies of the full album will be available on October 18. Sandbox Percussion commissioned music videos from past collaborator Michael McQuilken. “Bloom 2, morning,” is out now. Watch HERE.