Welcome to the Water Concerto for Water Percussion and
Orchestra.
Written in 1999, Tan Dun’s Water Concerto is a refreshing
break from the twentieth century’s dry 12-tone,
minimalist, and neo-romantic literature.
Mr. Tan uses unique sounds, powerful imagery, and
percussive and atmospheric elements created by both the
percussionists and orchestra to expertly guide the
listener from a state of meditation to a pulsating frenzy
that puts the listener on the edge of his seat.
Water percussion is anything that uses water in
producing a sound or anything whose sounds conjures a
water image in the listener’s mind.
Maria Flurry uses water percussion with
virtuosity and heart.
Her expressiveness fully communicates her
connection to the music, the orchestra and to the
audience.
This connection moves the Water Concerto from
merely an intriguing piece to a performance that has
brought the audience to a standing ovation peppered with
whistles and calls of “Bravo.”
People leave the auditorium excitedly chatting
with their seatmates, still humming the tunes from the
lilting duet between the cello and the gong, mentally
replaying the musical chattering of the agogo bells, or
tapping out the rhythmic motif of the second movement.
