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Mantra: Post-Minimalist Percussion In Aisle 12

There's something primeval about guys banging on wood. But the New York percussion group Mantra takes such primitive pounding to a surprisingly refined level. For composer Michael Gordon's mesmerizing new work — Timber, written for six two-by-fours — Mantra set up a public performance of the piece in the lumber department of a big-box hardware store in Alexandria, Va. Who knew 60 inches of processed pine could sound so good?

Credit:

Producers: Mito Habe-Evans, Dena Trugman, Tom Huizenga; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Additional Videography: Mike Katzif; Executive Producers: Anya Grundmann, Keith Jenkins.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Tom Huizenga is a producer for NPR Music. He contributes a wide range of stories about classical music to NPR's news programs and is the classical music reviewer for All Things Considered. He appears regularly on NPR Music podcasts and founded NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence in 2010.