Warning: it packs a hell of a punch! But it’s not always as hard as one could think. Because between Varese’s harsh urban worlds in Ionisation (1931), with its hysteric sirens and ravaging sounds; Reich’s (already) minimalist Music for Pieces of Wood (1973), obviously inspired by an imaginary Africa; the poetic and objectively beautiful Song of Quetzalcoatl (1941) by the magical Lou Harrison; Chávez’s savage Toccata (1942) and Cage’s implacable and esoteric Third Construction (1941), this is the whole world of percussion that opens up to the astounded ear. Of course, many instruments used here don’t come only from the European scene, in all likelihood less rich than the Asian scene—the Asian scenes, should we say, because there are so many contrasts between the Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian percussion instruments!—, the Latin American and even pre-Columbian scene, or even the African scene. Tetraktis, a musical ensemble from the United States, grasps with eagerness all those pieces born in the American scene—and we really mean American, and not only from the United States: Chávez was Mexican, and Varèse, even if he was born French, was later naturalized as a citizen of the United States—in the abundant melting pot of the 1940’s, when everything appeared to be, and was, in fact, allowed. Only Reich’s work is from three decades later, but he was also a pioneer in his own genre. © SM/Qobuz