Composed by Erin C. Blake

Performed by Ascension Brass as part of A Common Thread: Six World Premieres on March 22nd, 2023

Recital Hall, Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, IN

Archaea takes the listener through three different environments in a fantastical world: a forest, a lake, and a volcano. Each environment expresses the beauty found within the terrifying forces of nature.

I. Down Old Logging Roads

As you step into the forest, you hear faint sounds swarming in the distance. Perhaps a hunting horn, yet all remains peaceful. The forest awakens; packs of wolves and gusts of wind howl together in perfect harmony to create an ominous yet still peaceful environment. The nature of the forest becomes clear to you; it may seem tranquil in one moment and perilous in the next, constantly changing in the manner of nature. In a clearing, you find respite as streaks of sunlight weave their way through the tree branches above you.

II. Kensico

The tuba, horn, and trombone begin by alternating with one another, simulating a foghorn. Waves begin to form in fifths, but they calm as your curiosity overcomes you and you wade into the water. You dive down. As you reach the bottom, the water swirls around you in trumpet sixteenth notes, and the water pressure presses in on you in benthic fifths between the tuba and trombone. It is beautiful and terrifying; this is the water that keeps you alive, and yet you may drown.

III. Volcano!

The air’s torridity tires you. The trombone, succumbing to heat exhaustion, slides lazily in tritones as the other instruments create a searing atmosphere. You peer into the depths of the crater in a moment of glorious clarity. Billows of smoke frame your face and sting your eyes as you ponder the immense power of this mountain of molten rock, and suddenly, an eruption! The volcano heaves fragments of burning rock upwards as lava rushes down its exterior. The instruments, snapped out of their heat-stricken stupor, now embody driving, grooving panic. At last, the ash settles, blanketing the world with which the listeners are now familiar.

Program note co-written by Elizabeth Joffe

Ascension Brass:

Wayner Ramón Ortega, trumpet/piccolo trumpet

Evan Eldridge, trumpet

Tyler H. Goodwin-Souffront, horn

Nathan Gardner, trombone

Isaac Smith, tuba