David Peironnet of KCMetropolis interviewed Metropolis composer Avner Dorman ahead of his premiere of Frozen in Time on April 30, 2011 with the Kansas City Symphony.
DP: Frozen in Time is music composed for percussion. That’s always interesting. How do you, as a composer, develop a musical idea when you are essentially limited to banging on things? AD: Well, listeners will notice that I use both unpitched and pitched percussion instruments. The pitched percussion instruments (marimba, vibraphone, crotales, glockenspiel, etc..) are as melodic as, say, a piano (the piano simply has hammers “banging on things.”) As far as non pitched instruments, I feel those allow for more primal music, music from before the age of tones, scales, chords etc. I also love the fact that in a percussion concerto the percussion soloist is upfront, turning our focus to it.