Translating and communicating energy and personality in snare drum recordings can be tough, but Michael Sammons has achieved it with this collection of seven works for solo, or featured, snare drum. Across the tracks, Sammons’ artistic, sensitive, and professional approach to the instrument comes through loud and clear, and it is a real treat for the listener.

The collection starts with “Prím” by Áskell Másson, in which Sammons burns through the composer’s intricacies and rhythmic challenges with ease. It is worthy to note that within a piece that fluctuates so often between dynamic extremes, the recording maintains clarity at every dynamic level — a tall order when recording percussion instruments. Next is “Perpetual Motion: Marches, Trains, and Light” for snare drum and piano by Christopher Bradford. This, and all the music that follows, was commissioned for this recording. Here, the snare drum toggles between snares-on and -off, and on the head and the rim while it dances above the piano’s harmonic texture of sound that lies underneath. Sammons communicates ebb and flow, and large-scale meters and rhythms with ease throughout the piece.

“Iris” by Brian Nozny features the snare drum coupled with a digital soundscape, the latter of which leaves a lot of open space for the snare drum to shine through, almost like a digital playground for the rhythms and motives. Sammons maintains performance energy in such a way that the listener cannot help but remain engaged. On “Without a Murmur” by Chad Floyd, Sammons translates the various sounds (Bundlz, brushes, sticks, and Super Ball moans) into an attractive performance that delivers consistent momentum from beginning to end. Again, the recording is engineered in such a way that all of the nuance comes through withprecision and authority.

The three movements of “Canyon Suite” by Jason Nicholson features Sammons playing energetic motives on a drum without snares, artistic gestures with brushes and sticks, and some wicked grooves with snare and splash cymbal on the head with an additional low drum. If Nicholson’s grooves coupled with Sammons’ performance prowess does not compel the listener to make a “stank face” while listening, you better check for a pulse! The next solo, “Drag Queen” by Marc Mellits, features a healthy smattering of drags/diddles amongst a repetitive and steady stream of sixteenth notes on the rim, and is where Sammons brings his confident artistic treatment to a work that is more straight-forward and predictable in terms of phrase structure and presentation.

The collection concludes with “IO” by Áskell Másson, and features Sammons backed by marimba, vibraphone, and timpani. Throughout the work, the pitched instruments serve to establish harmonic scenes for the snare drum, and also interact with the snare rhythms, sometimes in unison and sometimes in a playful, back-and-forth conversation.

Kudos to Michael Sammons for putting together a collection of recordings that is dynamic, engaging, varied, and artistic!