TOP SPIN (2011)

TOP SPIN presents the novel setup of three similar sets of percussion instruments arranged on a circular table. Aside from their sizes (one large, one medium, one small), these sets are identical, consisting of the unusually simple combination of three hand drums, three wooden bars and three metal tubes. In addition, a “spring drum” is hung from a stand next to each table-top setup. Three percussionists play these setups, switching at various, defined points from one setup to another, playing the instruments from neighbouring setups and moving at varying speeds around the table. The result is a veritable “match situation” in keeping with the work’s title and the character of the entire tennis cycle.

Vito Žuraj (trans. Alwyn Tomas Westbrooke)

TOP SPIN is a continuation of my series of compositions bearing tennis-related titles. As an avid tennis player myself, I attempt in each of these works to portray in music my own personal impressions of the aspect of the game described in each work’s title. In tennis, TOP SPIN describes the forward revolutions imparted upon tennis ball when a player’s shot brushes the ball from below, causing the ball to dip earlier and more dramatically than would otherwise be the case.

TOP SPIN presents the novel setup of three similar sets of percussion instruments arranged on a circular table. Aside from their sizes (one large, one medium, one small), these sets are identical, consisting of the unusually simple combination of three hand drums, three wooden bars and three metal tubes. In addition, a “spring drum” is hung from a stand next to each table-top setup. Three percussionists play these setups, switching at various, defined points from one setup to another, playing the instruments from neighbouring setups and moving at varying speeds around the table. The result is a veritable “match situation” in keeping with the work’s title and the character of the entire tennis cycle.

Vito Žuraj , trans. Alwyn Tomas Westbrooke