Top 100 Composers: Donald Erb
In my attempts to pick 100 composers whose work I like the most I've been revisiting various composers whose work I've liked but that I've either never systematically studied or haven't listened to for a long time. Donald Erb has been one of the composers whose work has most pleasantly surprised me in my revisitation of it.
His apparently close relationship with such players as Bertram Turetsky (contrabass on at least 4 of the pieces: "VII Miscellaneous", "Trio for Two", "In No Strange Land", & "Three Pieces for Double Bass Alone") & Stuart Dempster (trombone on "In No Strange Land" & "...and then toward the end...") is a good thing & the playing of Michael Tilson Thomas & Ralph Grierson (who both also played on the Angel recording of John Cage's "Three Dances (1944-1945) & Steve Reich's "Four Organs" (1970)) on Erb's "Reconnaissance" is another good thing
His "Symphony of Overtures" being based on the following plays: "Endgame" (Samuel Beckett), "The Blacks" & "The Maids" (Jean Genet), & "Rhinoceros" (Eugene Ionesco) pleases me enoromously because the latter 3 are 3 of my favorite plays.
"Kyrie" & "Three Pieces for Brass Quintet and Piano" surprised me because they reminded me somewhat of the work of Kenneth Gaburo, whose work I like, & I'd forgotten that Erb did anything like them - & then read that he'd studied with Gaburo.
I'm happy with his use of electronics partially just because he uses Moog products, which I hear less of in classical music than I do other instruments such as the RCA synthesizer at Columbia-Princeton.
In short, I find the work just a tad fresher than I expected to & a little more wild & wooly at times than my memory had it. Bravo!
- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - December 22, 2017E.V.
Donald Erb Retrospective
Tape 1: Side 1 of a 110 minute tape:
01. "Sonneries" - 1961 - 8:40
02. "VII Miscellaneous" - 1964 - 8:41
03. "Symphony of Overtures" - 1964 - 16:05
04. "Summer Music" - 1966 - 5:50
05. "Concerto for Solo Percussionist" - 1966.08 - 9:28
06. "Kyrie" - 1967 - 2:50
Tape 1: Side 2 of a 110 minute tape:
07. "Reconnaissance" - 1967 - 17:12
08. "Trio for Two" - 1968 - 6:05
09. "In No Strange Land" - 1968 - 17:00
10. "Three Pieces for Brass Quintet and Piano" - 1968 - 7:40
Tape 2: Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
11. "The Seventh Trumpet" - 1969.02.07 - 11:02
12. "...and then toward the end..." - 1971 - 8:29 - CD
13. "Harold's Trip to the Sky" - 1972 - 8:55
Tape 2: Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
14. "Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra" - premiered November 4, 1976 - 17:55 - CD
15. "Cenotaph (for E.V.)" - 1979 - 7:49 - CD
16. "Prismatic Variations" - 1983.08.18 - 17:18
Tape 3: Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
17. "Concerto for Orchestra" - 1985 - 27:55 - CD
Tape 3: Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
18. "Concerto for Brass and Orchestra" - premiered April 16, 1987 - 18:14 - CD
19. "Three Poems for Violin and Piano" - 1987 - 17:11 - CD
Tape 4: Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
20. "Solstice" - 1988 - 12:12 - CD
21. "Woody" - 1988 - 11:09 - CD
22. "Symphony for Winds" - 1989 - 10:05 - CD
Tape 4: Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
23. "Drawing Down the Moon" - 1991 - 15:04 - CD
24. "Ritual Observances" - premiered April 30, 1992 - 28:49 - CD
Tape 5: Side 1 of a 90 minute tape:
25. "Evensong" - 1993.08 - 22:43 - CD
26. "String Quartet No. 3" - 1995 - 22:24 - CD
Tape 5: Side 2 of a 90 minute tape:
27. "Suddenly It's Evening" - 1997 - 17:50 - CD
28. "Three Pieces for Double Bass Alone" -
1999 - 6:40 - CD
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