Fragmented Effigies (2021) by Elijah Daniel Smith

Matchstick Percussion first encountered Fragmented Effigies during the Sō Percussion Summer Institute in July of 2022 at Princeton University, where they performed and recorded the work with Four/Ten Media.

Written for four percussionists and electronics, Smith utilizes an audio track to support an array of pitched metal and wooden instruments. Each player begins in their own tempo, repeating their figure ad lib until specified moments in the audio track where the figures evolve and shift the texture.

About the composer:

Praised by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a “rising star”, composer Elijah Daniel Smith (b. 1994) is quickly establishing himself as one of today’s leading young composers. His music, which has been described as “gnashing and relentless” (Chicago Tribune), “Seductive” (Gramophone), and as “an ingenious study in clarity and distortion” (San Francisco Classical Voice), ranges from orchestral compositions to multimedia and interdisciplinary collaborations. Elijah’s affinity for dense and complex textures, rhythmic ambiguity and fluidity, and rich gravitational harmonies shines through in all of his creations. His music has been premiered and performed by world renowned ensembles including The Chicago Symphony Orchestra for MusicNOW, the American Composers Orchestra, the New England Philharmonic, the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Contemporaneous, JACK Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Bergamot Quartet, Sō Percussion, Sandbox Percussion, Yarn/Wire, and numerous other professional ensembles and orchestras.

Elijah is currently pursuing his PhD in Music Composition at Princeton University as a President’s Fellow, and he is the Composition Studies Associate at the Curtis Institute of Music. Elijah’s music is published by Project Schott New York, and you can find out more about him and his music on his website: https://www.elijahdanielsmith.com/

Performed by Matchstick Percussion at their Launch Party on September 23nd, 2023 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington D.C.

Video and Audio Recording by Brendan Sweeney

Video Edited by Ben Hausman