related works
The stillpoint : for violin and vibraphone, opus 4, 1994/1995 / Edward Top
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
vibr vl
Sinfonia no. 7 : per orchestra / Jan van Dijk
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2222 2320 timp 2-3perc str
Memoryscape : for ensemble and soundtrack / Yannis Kyriakides
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
fl/pic/a-fl ob cl fg trp trb h tb pf perc 2vl vla vc cb tape
Nightmusic : orchestra, 1974 / Henk van Schevikhoven
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3333 4331 timp perc cel vibr xyl hp str(16.14.12.8.6.)
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)