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Who performed: Organized Rhythm, an organ and percussion duo, closed out the Religious Arts Festival at Independent Presbyterian Church on Feb. 10.
The music: There were a few transcriptions, but this was mostly original music for an unlikely instrumental mix. Petr Eben's well-crafted "Landscapes
of Patmos" split its score between pitched tom-toms and bells and perky organ solos. Nico Muhly's "Beaming Music" had organist Clive Driskill-Smith and percussionist Joseph Gramley counting their fingers and toes as this Philip Glass-inspired work meandered through a maze of rhythms and meters. William Bolcom's spooky "Black Host" mixed acoustic instruments with electronic sounds.
Performance highlights: For Gramley, there were a haunting marimba solo in a work from Ghana and a Latin-tinged snare drum solo from American Eugene Novotney. Driskill-Smith's soaring solos in Guy Bovet's clever improvisation, "Hamburg" were matched by a vivid arrangement of Saint-Saën's "Carnival of the Animals", which was interspersed by readings of Ogden Nash's poetry.
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