March 2024 performance by the Hartt Percussion Group at the University of Delaware Interactive Percussion Seminar. Performers: Jianpeng Feng, Honoka Masuyama, Mark Tollefsen, Ben Toth, Joseph Van Hassel

Performed by Honoka Masuyama (marimba) and Chadwick Thomas (clarinet) at Honoka's DMA recital on November 30, 2023 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Hartford.

Akira Yuyama's Divertimento for Marimba and Alto Saxophone was composed in 1968 at the request of renowned Japanese marimbist Keiko Abe for one of her recitals. Inspired by Abe's artistry, Yuyama paired the marimba with the alto saxophone, creating a colorful dialogue that highlights the unique character of both instruments. Written in a rondo with variation form, the work combines virtuosity with a lighthearted, entertaining spirit, true to the meaning of "divertimento."

Performed by Honoka Masuyama (marimba) and Scott Brown (saxophone) at The Hartt School for the Foot in the Door concert, October 14, 2025.

Performed at Honoka's DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

Asanga was dedicated to percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky, who premiered it on September 30, 1998, in Fylkingen, Stockholm. The Sanskrit title Asanga means ‘freedom from attachment,’ and Volans wrote it for her as a gift on the occasion of her father’s death. It was written with no conscious techniques or concepts. – Kevin Volans

Performed at the Hartt Graduate Percussion Group Concert on April 23, 2023.

Performers: Honoka Masuyama (vibraphone), Lucas Conant (marimba), John Zazo (marimba)

"It is called the 'Rain Tree' becuase it seems to make it rain. Whenever it rains at night, throughout the following morning the tree makes drops fall from all its richly growing leaves. While the other trees quickly dry out after the rain, the Rain Tree, because its leaves, no bigger than fingertips grow so closely together, can store up raindrops in its leaves. Truly an ingenious tree!" - quoted from "Atama no ii Ame no Ki" (The Ingenious Rain Tree) by Kenzaburo Oe (from the score)

Performed at Honoka's DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

The Gyil (pronounced jee-lee), is the grandmother of the mallet keyboard family. It is made from fourteen wooden slats that are suspended, on a frame, over calabash gourds. Its sound is like our marimba, yet more "earthen" in character. It is the national instrument of the Lobi and Dagara people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Côte D'Ivoire. Throughout West Africa, people believe that its "woody" sound comes from an internal vibration of water that physically balances water in the bodies of people and animals. In Ghana, the gyil is present in daily life; from weddings and funerals to dances and everyday recreation. Fra Fra Song is the Dagara people’s interpretation of a particular song of their neighbors to the East, the Frafra people. Ni Fa Mik Pee is a song from Kalba Suru in the LobilBrifo and Dagara area of Upper West Region of GhanaKpanlogo is a Ghanaian recreational music and dance form associated with the Ga ethnic group, who are traditionally located in the Greater Accra Region, which is in the South of the country.

Performed by Honoka Masuyama (timpani) and Jonathan Reuning-Scherer (piano) at Honoka's DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

Werner Thärichen, legendary timpanist of the Berlin Philharmonic, studied composition and conducting at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. He also learned the flute and piano and was a percussionist and timpanist with the orchestras of the Hamburg State Opera and the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin. Thärichen was known especially for his Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, Op 34 (1954), which he performed as soloist or conducted at home and abroad. This concerto was the best known of his more than 70 works. It was written for his son Nicolai, to whom he also gave percussion lessons and who made a name for himself as a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Performed by Honoka Masuyama on double tenor pan at her DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

Composer, arranger, and steelband virtuoso Len “Boogsie” Sharpe is a legend in Trinidad, the island that invented the instrument. Sharpe began his career with Starlift Steelband, where he worked as a co-arranger with Ray Holman. He is most strongly associated with the Phase II Pan Groove Steel Orchestra, a band he has taken to several finals of Panorama steelband competition, as well as winning first place in 1987 and 1988. Sharpe does not teach steelpan privately one-on-one; instead, he teaches it publicly at the panyard. Short and Sweet are two short and relaxing pieces written for double seconds.

Special thanks to Kyle Dunleavy for crafting this beautiful set of double tenor pans, whose exceptional workmanship made this performance possible.

Full Nelson (2017) was premiered by Joseph Van Hassel in Fall 2018, a few weeks before Macbride’s untimely passing. This two-movement work for solo vibraphone was composed after Macbride attended a performance by his son Jimmy with vibraphonist Steve Nelson. Macbride asks the performer to use two mallets, as that is how Nelson performs. The title is a play on words, using Nelson’s name and the wrestling move. If the performer plays one movement, the piece should be called Half Nelson, and if both movements are performed, the piece is titled Full Nelson. Both movements of the work are quite episodic, with short musical gestures separated by fermati. There is a small amount of improvisation (appropriate for a work inspired by a jazz musician) and a multitude of tempo changes, sometimes in very quick succession. Full Nelson is recorded by Joseph Van Hassel on As Before: Solo Percussion Music of David Macbride; Joseph Van Hassel, Percussion (Chen Li Music 108).

Performed by Honoka Masuyama at her DMA percussion recital at The Hartt School, February 2025.

Performed by Lindsey Warne (flute), Clara Ruiz Medina (clarinet), and Honoka Masuyama (marimba) for the Foot in the Door concert on March 3, 2026.

Esprit rude/Esprit doux II was composed for the celebration of Pierre Boulez’s 70th birthday on March 30, 1995, in Chicago. The title, translated as “rough breathing/smooth breathing,” refers to the pronunciation of classical Greek words beginning with a vowel or a ρ. With esprit rude (rough breathing), the initial vowel is to be preceded by a sounded H, and is indicated by a reversed comma above the letter. With esprit doux (smooth breathing), the initial vowel is not to be preceded by H and is indicated by a comma above the vowel. In Greek for seventieth year (transliterated as hebdomekoston etos), the initial epsilon of the first word has a rough breathing sigh while the epsilon of the second has a smooth one. – Elliott Carter

Béla Bartók - Sonata for two pianos and two percussion, Sz. 110 Markus Kaitila & Homan Cheung - pianos Honoka Masuyama & Hannah Moore - percussion

Hartt Percussion Group performed John Cage’s Third Construction at University of Delaware Interactive Percussion Seminar 2024.

Performed at the Hartt School for the Hartt Percussion Ensemble's 75th Anniversary Concert on April 12, 2025.

Cha Cha Lekpa Fun is a generic rhythm in Yoruba religious ceremonies. Traditional bata drumming is played at the ceremonies of the Yoruba religion, Santeria. The ensemble is made up of three drums: jyá (mother drum), itótele (or omelé enkó), and okónkolo (or simply, omele). Iya, the largest and lowest pitched drum, is the lead instrument in the ensemble. It is assigned the most complicated rhythms and has the most freedom for embellishment. Itótele is the middle sized drum. It engages in occasional variation as well as regular conversation with the iya. Okónkolo, the smallest drum, is generally confined to rhythmic ostinatos.

Performers: Ben Toth (Iyá), Honoka Masuyama (Itótele), Hannah Moore (Okónkolo)

Performed at the Hartt School for the Hartt Percussion Ensemble 75th Anniversary Concert on April 12, 2025.

Performers: Jordon Wiersema (tabla), Honoka Masuyama (riq) Yuchen Yan (tar), and Ben Toth (doumbek).

Performance of Hermeto Pascoal's Essa é pro Bora, arranged for percussion ensemble. Performed at the Hartt Collage on February 15, 2025 at The Hartt School.

Performers: Honoka Masuyama (xylophone), Yuchen Yan (vibraphone), Ben Toth (drum set), Nino Ciampa (zabumba), Hannah Moore (shaker and slide whistle), Sarah Roch (shaker and squeaky toy).

This is the world-premiere recording of Joseph Schwantner's Fast Track: Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble, performed on November 16, 2024, by the Hartt Wind Ensemble with soloist Benjamin Toth (for whom the piece was written), and John R. "Rusty" Koenig, conductor, who delivers comments on the work before the performance.

Schwantner's compositional career has been marked by many awards, grants, and fellowships, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 for his orchestral composition Aftertones of Infinity, and several Grammy nominations. His Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra, commissioned for the 150th anniversary season of the New York Philharmonic, is one of the most performed concert works of the past several decades. Christopher Lamb, soloist in the Naxos recording of the Concerto by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, received a 2012 Grammy Award for "Best Classical Instrumental Solo" for his performance. Fast Track is Schwantner's second entry into the percussion concerto genre and his first for percussion and wind ensemble.

The piece was commissioned through a consortium of 33 university and professional wind ensembles by Lead Commissioner Glen Adsit (1965-2024) of the The Hartt School, University of Hartford. Profoundly dedicated to enriching student experiences and contributing to the progress of literature for the wind ensemble, Adsit led numerous consortiums in his role as Director of Bands at The Hartt School and premiered and recorded many of these pieces with his students. Fast Track was the final commission that he led, and it is dedicated to him. Shortly before his death, Adsit passed the project to his final doctoral conducting student, John R. "Rusty" Koenig, who conducted this premiere performance. Adsit and Schwantner collaborated closely with Benjamin Toth, Professor of Percussion at The Hartt School, to create Fast Track. Adsit and Toth previously collaborated to commission Nebojša Jovan Živković's percussion concerto Tales from the Center of the Earth, the recording of which appears on the Naxos label’s Passaggi, with Adsit conducting the Hartt Wind Ensemble, and Toth, soloist. Adsit’s recording of Schwantner’s Recoil also appears on this CD. Performance of this piece is reserved exclusively for members of the consortium until January 2026, after such time performances can be organized through Schwantner's publisher, Schott Helicon.