Music of Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson - Music of Robert Erickson

Robert Erickson biography (b. March 7, 1917 in Marquette, Michigan; d. April 24, 1997 in San Diego, California)

From the liner notes:

Night Music (1978) is for solo trumpet and ensemble. If I had to choose a single work to demonstrate the persistence of beauty in contemporary music, it might well be this haunting evocation, with the solo trumpet weaving an audible garland around a single obsessive note and the other instruments moving in and out of range like moonbeams. "Time flows free and unmetered," Erickson writes, "or in a kind of rhythmic polyphony that has worked its way into my music in recent years. The composition stems neither from the 18th-century Nachtmusik nor from the Mahlerian evocation of it. Rather, it evokes the kind of night that belongs to dreaming, an oceanic night."

Performers: Arch Ensemble featuring David Burkhart on trumpet

The Idea of Order at Key West (1979) is a cantita for Carol Plantamura. "I got acquainted with Wallace Stevens' poem in 1953," says Erickson. "The range of feeling in the brilliant language spoke strongly to me, and I was especially attracted by its images of singer and sea, its internal music and its rich and complex rhythms."

Performers: Arch Ensemble

Carol Plantamura - mezzo-soprano

Pacific Sirens (1969) comprises an instrumental ensemble (wind, brass, timpani, gongs and string bass) playing "into" the sounds of California surf which have been electronically filtered and retuned to approximate pitches. "Ever since childhood," Erickson writes, "I have wondered about the songs the Sirens sang to Ulysses and his men." This could be that music. Erickson's score is a single page of quasi-graphic notations; the players improvise, sometimes counterpointing and sometimes matching the sounds on tape to produce a continuous siren song.

Performers: Arch Ensemble

Tape part realized at the Electronic Music Studio, University of California, San Diego

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Night Music {17:50}

Side 2

1. The Idea of Order at Key West {10:45}

2. Pacific Sirens {13:21}

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