Overflow Arts Journal Blog / Nov 2008
"..the St. Lawrence's dazzling, rumbustious world premiere performance of David Bruce's Gumboots"
New York Times / Nov 2008
"David Bruce incorporates his lagerphone into the final section of his vivacious song cycle "Piosenki" (in Polish, popular songs), which concluded the program and was its highlight."
"Mr. Bruce's lagerphone, a percussion instrument in the shape of a long stick, is covered with bottle tops (hence the "lager") and other metal noisemakers and decorated with colorful streamers. When pounded on the floor, it produces a jingly sound akin to a tambourine's but louder. The rest of the colorful score evokes Polish folk music and Slavic wedding bands with klezmer clarinet tunes, zesty piccolo riffs, syncopated rhythms and energetic fiddling. The audience laughed at the musical flatulence of "Smelly," the fourth verse."
"Mr. Bruce's lagerphone, a percussion instrument in the shape of a long stick, is covered with bottle tops (hence the "lager") and other metal noisemakers and decorated with colorful streamers. When pounded on the floor, it produces a jingly sound akin to a tambourine's but louder. The rest of the colorful score evokes Polish folk music and Slavic wedding bands with klezmer clarinet tunes, zesty piccolo riffs, syncopated rhythms and energetic fiddling. The audience laughed at the musical flatulence of "Smelly," the fourth verse."
New York Times / Oct 2008
lively...jubillant...joyous
