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
Dance of the second-born : for orchestra, opus 31, 2001 / Frank van Gompel
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2222 2sax-a 2110 perc str
Suite pour orchestre : op. 6 / Géza Frid
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3223 4221 timp perc hp pf str
De Dauwboog : for orchestra / Reza Namavar
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
pic 2fl ob ob(eh) 3cl 2fg cfg 4h 3trp 3trb tb timp 4perc hp pf(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)