Georges Aperghis (1945-)
Les guetteurs de sons (1981)
Le corps à corps (1978-79)

Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008)
Dressur (1977)
L’art bruit, solo for two (1995)

Vinko Globokar (1934-)
Toucher (1973)
Corporel (1985)

Javier Alvarez (20e siècle-)
Temazcal, pour maracas et bande magnétique (1984)

Jean-Pierre DROUET
Variations sur un texte de Victor Hugo (1991)

Aiyun Huang, percussion
Diego Espinosa
Sandra Joseph
Ben Duinker
Eric Derr
Parker Bert
Shawn Mativetsky
Fernando Rocha

Aiyun Huang’s unique recital, “Save Percussion Theater,” is a video-recording of theater music for percussion dedicated to the pioneering work of the Parisian group “Trio Le Cercle,” for whom many of these works written and by whom they have been championed. This recording, in essence a document of the complete percussion works from the French school of theater music, is an ambitious undertaking. Here the camera replaces the eye of an audience member, and the microphone his or her ear, yet with the sense of being there, in the theater. These are “French pieces” – mostly written by non-French composers whose most important work took place in Paris in the 1970s and 1980s. The cultural friction between immigrant artists and a French culture that embraced them without completely welcoming them is apparent with every note. This is the music of outsiders with a story to tell, where questions of belonging, control, and place are central. Many of these works are renowned in the percussion repertoire, but their combination of theater, voice and percussion makes little sense as strictly audio recordings. The visual aspect is essential to their experience. All receive their first commercial video release performed by percussionist Aiyun Huang – who studied with members of Trio Le Cercle – giving authoritative performances of these works for solo through quartet. This is the first time these works have been collected together, and the first time any have been commercially released with video. Each work is given a unique look by directors Hans Fjellestad and Anton Cabaleiro.