Kraftwerk by Daniel McCarthy

KraftWerk was commissioned by Alison Shaw, professor of percussion at the Michigan State University School of Music and Marty Erickson, professor of tuba at the Pennsylvania State University School of Music. The piece is a series of six short movements, each demonstrating various timbrel and rhythmic characteristics of tuba and percussion. The name KraftWerk refers to the German “techno-funk” group of the same name. The rhythmic precision of this group is likened to the kind of rhythmic animation throughout this piece. The title of each movement represents, in short, the musical fixture of the movement. For example, No. III, “Extensions” features extended tertian harmony while No. VI “Leap Rule” is a highly contrapuntal.