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
Der nächtliche Wanderer : for symphony orchestra / Reinbert de Leeuw
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
picc 3fl 2ob eh 3cl cl-b 3fg fg-c 4h 3trp 2trb trb-b tb timp 4perc pf hp str
White Interment (Symphony Nº 3) : for symphony orchestra / Victoria Vita Poleva
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
4fl 2ob 2cl 2fg 4h 2tpt 3trb tb campanelli timp hp pf str
Symphonie no. 1 : (1929) / Piet Ketting
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3343 sax-a 4431 timp 4perc hp cel str
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)