related works
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Vocal ensemble (2-12) and large ensemble
Scoring:
sopr recit 1111 1110 perc vibr hp pf 2vl vla vc cb
Priamel : voor symf. orkest, 1964, op. 62 / Ary Verhaar
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3333 4330 timp 2perc hp str
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
fl pic 2ob eh 2cl cl-b 2fg 4h 3trp 3trb timp perc hp str
Approaching a City : for chamber orchestra, 2001 / Peter van Onna
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg 2h trp trb 2perc pf str(8.8.6.6.4.)
composition
Eruption : for orchestra / Edward Top
Other authors:
Top, Edward
(Composer)
Description:
This piece in itself is an eruption, a celebration of the intense outbreak of youthful vigor, capturing a tour de force of speed that does not diminish for the entire duration. It is the raw and unrestrained crest of musical heights that is captured in the fleeting moment of an eruption.
The idea came about when, by chance, I discovered a striking similarity between cadences in the Ars Nova style, a French medieval musical style, compared to power chords of the modern-day Heavy Metal genre, where the use of parallel perfect fifths plays a pivotal role in its unmistakable sound. The experience might be likened to a modern painter creating cave drawings even when many developments in skill and style have since transpired. It was this primal yet contemporary approach that justified the transforming of elements from the extreme metal subgenre such as blastbeat drumming (intense sixteenth-note strokes on the snare drum), chromatically moving power chords and metrical shifts, into a contemporary symphonic esthetic.
Eruption is commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for joint performances by the TSO and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. It will be performed in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal during the 150th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada in 2017. Eruption was composed with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Edward Top, Vancouver (October 2016)