The Contemporary Composer in the USA: Donald Erb

Donald Erb - The Contemporary Composer in the USA: Donald Erb

Symphony of Overtures

The plays that have been used as a basis for the Symphony of Overtures are The Blacks by Jean Genet, Endgame by Samuel Beckett, The Maids by Jean Genet, and Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco. It has been asked how such a piece can be called a symphony. The answer is simply that, although each movement is an overture, the four movements combine into a rather conventional symphonic pattern. The first movement opens slowly, then develops into an allegro. The second movement is a conventionally placed adagio. The third resembles a scherzo and trio, and the last, a brutal march-like movement provides a noisy climax.

The form of each movement is, in a very general way, dictated by the dramatic structure of the play upon which it is based. There has been no conscious attempt to use any of the conventional musical forms, although a resemblance is apparent in the third movement. In essence, the work marks a return to the long dishonored ways of 'program music'; yet it can also be heard on purely musical terms.

The motives and textures which begin each overture are almost immediately treated in a developmental fashion. The divisions of each movement into sections are created more by changes in texture than by other more traditional means, such as cadences or changes in tonal areas. Texture, then, is of primary importance and is used as a basic organizing factor, rather than as an effect. (Donald Erb)

The Seventh Trumpet

The title refers to a section in the Book of Revelations.

The composition is in one movement divided into three large sections. The first section opens with a quite free cadenza for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and string bass. The material presented in this cadenza is present in various guises throughout the piece. The first section has a static quality. The strings enter stand by stand and proceed to hold the note they land on for the rest of the section. Other musical figures are superimposed on this relatively inactive mass.

The second section is very rhythmic and consists of most of the players in the orchestra performing on their instruments in unusual ways. The last section begins slowly and gradually speeds up. It is basically cumulative in nature. (Donald Erb)

Concerto for Solo Percussionist

The orchestra does function in this piece in much more than its traditional role of accompaniment. The individual orchestra parts are, in places, virtuoso passages in their own right.

Music today is undergoing drastic changes. Many of the time-honored concepts of music are being cast aside. The composer of a generation or two ago would have included such terms as melody, harmony, and counterpoint as being essential ingredients in the structure of any good piece of music. Many composers today feel that this is not so. Music is, in its broadest sense, sound. Sound is endlessly fascinating in its own right. It does not need the traditional use of melody or harmony to make it interesting. Nothing in the symphony orchestra has as much appeal from the standpoint of pure sound as does the percussion section with its enormous variety of instruments. One percussionist is capable of producing a veritable kaleidoscope of color. (Donald Erb)

Music performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Marvin Dahlgren, percussion on Concerto for Solo Percussionist

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Symphony of Overtures: The Blacks {4:17}

2. Symphony of Overtures: Endgame {4:04}

3. Symphony of Overtures: The Maids {3:22}

4. Symphony of Overtures: Rhinoceros {4:01}

Side 2

1. The Seventh Trumpet {13:12}

2. Concerto for Solo Percussionist {9:27}

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