Erisian Cycles

for Carillon (65-Bell Edition)

Audio

Score

Notes from the composer

Erisian Cycles was composed for the University of Denver’s Williams Carillon and carilloneur Todd Fair. The piece is in five sections loosely based on the Discordian calendar, in which the universe exists in a cycle that begins with Chaos. Through the imposition of order, states of Discord, Confusion, Bureaucracy, and finally Aftermath result.

To represent this cycle, I use several motives that undergo a variety of transformations. In the opening section, these ideas are fragmented and isolated, with little attempt to relate them to one another. In the following sections, various methods relating these motives are used to represent the imposition of order. In the Aftermath section, these motives return to their fragmented state, though there has been some transformation of the original ideas.

Within each section, I drew on various impressions of the carillon. During my time at the University of Denver, I would often catch short fragments of music while walking from one building to another. One day, I might hear a fragment of a chorale, and the next a driving ostinato piece. I was also fascinated by the potential for overlapping sonorities and transformation of pitch collections though liquidation. The five sections explore these aspects of the instrument.

Awards

47-Bell Edition

Winner – 2006 ISU Carillon Composition Competition

Performance History

65-Bell Edition

Premiered October 22, 2004.

Todd Fair, Williams Carillon

October 24, 2004.

Todd Fair, Williams Carillon

Recorded Nov. 23, 2004.

Todd Fair, Williams Carillon

47-Bell Edition

Premiered April 8, 2006.

Todd Fair at ISU Carillon Festival (Ames, IA)

June 5, 2006.

Charles Semowich, Albany Carillon (Albany, NY).