Glennie Overcomes Lack in Repertory

Much of Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie’s recital Sunday at Veterans Wadsworth Theater turned out to be better in prospect than actuality.

More specifically, the idea of hearing a piece written for solo snare drum by an Icelandic composer (Askell Masson’s “Prim”) holds a promise the music can’t live up to. You can only hit a snare drum so many ways, even if you’re Glennie.

Her attempts to make up for this lack in repertory--no conga etudes by Chopin, no bongo bagatelles by Brahms--succeed to a point. She creates theater with lighting and costume (and plays barefoot). She offers amiable spoken preambles in brogue, demystifying the avant-garde. And her virtuosic, athletic performances impress in their own right, regardless of what’s played. They’re feats.

The best bits Sunday involved her slamming with abandon or whirring like a bee. Kevin Volans’ “She Who Sleeps With a Small Blanket,” for bongos, congas, bass drum and marimba, set patterns spinning and slashed in rich sonorities. David Horne’s “Reaching Out,” for an elaborate non-pitched drum set, came closest to an extended rock drum solo, and Glennie sold it. David Lang’s arrangement of “Born to Be Wild,” with Glennie dead-panning the lyrics over a percussionized arrangement, was good fun.

But several pieces for marimba--by Toshimitsu Tanaka, Keiko Abe and Glennie--revealed the instrument’s limited expressive and timbral range. Frederic Rzewski’s “To the Earth,” in which a Homeric hymn is recited and flowerpots are chimed, likewise wore out its welcome quickly.

Roberto Sierra’s “Bongo-O” (for bongos) and Javier Alvarez’s “Temazcal” (for maracas and audiotape) filled out the program and worked well as display pieces.