Mirrored Glass is the latest release from Toronto-based percussion duo Taktus, comprised of Fredericton-native Greg Harrison and Jonny Smith. The record is presented in two “sides”, one featuring compositions by Canadian electronic and classical composer Ann Southam, and the other by the legendary Philip Glass. It is a follow up to Taktus’ CBC-celebrated, ECMA-nominated work Glass Houses for Marimba (2015), their take on Southam’s Glass Houses, which was in turn inspired by Glass’ own work.
Much like it was the case with Glass Houses, it would feel incomplete to talk about Mirrored Glass without addressing both the precision in the playing and the quality of the recording. Harrison and Smith do an impeccable job of tackling the complex interplay between accompanying and leading voices present in both sets of compositions. The accomplished, seamless adaptation of the pieces into marimba duets results in technically challenging parts, and the duo merges them together with remarkable sensibility.
Mirrored Glass is partly an exercise in minimalism, a perhaps inevitable quality when following on Southam’s steps. The production honours this by offering little in the way of bells and whistles, but the nuance with which the performance is captured reveals a sophistication that may not be immediately apparent. The treatment of space and resonance should be a delight for audiophiles craving for that feeling of a perfect room. Resonant harmonics expand and stack into infinity, never saturating or distorting. The sound does an excellent job of showcasing Harrison and Smith’s dominance of dynamics, and it goes a long way in compensating for the relative timbral limitations of melodic percussion when compared to the piano most of these pieces originate on.
It should be noted that your listening experience will vary according with your appreciation for contemporary classical music. I would call Mirrored Glass a moderate to challenging listen. Southam’s material is characterized by fairly unchanging accompanying backdrops, which are “coloured” by changes in the leading voice. This gives most of the pieces a somewhat repetitive feel, and a tendency to fade into the background. It makes for great ambient music. Glass’ work, in contrast, is very narrative-driven and often dramatic; the storm to Southam’s calm.
As a whole, if you let Mirrored Glass guide you through its full journey, you will have completed a sort of circuit through human emotion; and all of the details and nuance will keep you coming back for more. The best part is, like with many good things, that it only gets better with repetition.