Star-Ledger: ‘Percussionist finds inspiration at a flower shop’

The Star-Ledger was on the scene when guest percussionist David Cossin led a trip to Metropolitan Plant & Flower Exchange in Fort Lee to test out and purchase the flower pots that will become instruments in Tan Dun’s Earth Concerto when the NJSO gives the work’s U.S. premiere next weekend.

The halls of the Metropolitan Plant and Flower Exchange were decked with holly -- and Christmas trees, poinsettias and all sorts of glittery branches and pinecones.

But when David Cossin paid a mid-December visit to the Fort Lee store, holiday shopping was the last thing on his mind.

“I’m looking for what’s going to sound good,” he said.

Cossin pulled mallets out of a backpack and ambled down an aisle of flowerpots -- rustic terra-cotta and glazed chinoiserie, round ones and square ones, large and small. He tapped the pots on their outsides, rattled his sticks around the insides, and flicked a few with his fingernail.

Cossin will use the most musical pots he finds this weekend, when he will appear as the soloist for the U.S. premiere of Tan Dun’s “Earth Concerto.”

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As the concerto travels from one venue to the next, he added, “We’re trying to find things locally. Each time will be quite different.”

In other words, if you hear the piece in New Jersey, it will be an experience that cannot be duplicated elsewhere.

What you might hear are sounds with a cool plink -- Cossin called it “glassy” -- some with a metallic jangle or others that give off a dry clacking sound ...

Cossin ducked under giant leaves, crouched down to low shelves and stretched to the highest as he hunted for the flowerpots that would be just right.

“It’s an active role -- you find this a lot when you’re a percussionist. The choice of instruments will change the piece, so you feel that responsibility.”

“As a composer, I feel Tan Dun is able to release that role of control. He could’ve said, ‘I need a C sharp or a D sharp,’ but it adds a lot more surprise and creativity if you don’t. You get more pleasant surprises that way.”

Cossin will be joined onstage by NJSO percussionists Jim Neglia and Jim Musto, and each will have their own set of pots in addition to a regular arsenal of instruments. Guest artist Zhang Meng will play Chinese wind instruments.

The NJSO’s percussionists joined Cossin as he searched for the perfect sound. Pink, yellow and orange watering cans hung above their heads as they pored over the score and discussed their plans.

At one point, they broke out into an improvised trio, riffing on each others’ rhythmic patterns as though each shelf full of merchandise were filled instead with bars of marimbas or vibraphones. Those strolling by for non-musical pursuits -- orchids, maybe, or pond fish -- did double-takes.

Read the full feature and check out a photo gallery of images from the trip at nj.com.

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