Angels: Fallen & Otherwise
Instrumentation: SATB chorus, treble chorus (or solo treble voice), fl, cl, vln, vc, perc, pno
Duration: 45 minutes
Commissioner: Lawrence Pech Dance Company (San Francsico, CA) premiered with Baroque Choral Guild, Ragazzi Boys Chorus, and Left Coast Chamber Ensemble
Premiere: 2000 San Francisco, CA at the Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts. Workshop public performances in outdoor venues at Sonoma and Napa, CA
“Beve! Beve!” Iago urges on Otello’s faithful but weak-stomached captain to drink up and create a credible plot for the rest of the opera. Kurt Erickson, a young but already much-published San Francisco composer, is a great fan of Verdi’s drinking song, so when Lawrence Pech asked him to provide music for a ballet about tourists stranded in a Moroccan desert, Erickson took the melody, slowed it down and jazzed it up. Whoa! It sounds great and perfect for dance.”
“If you don’t know the work of Kurt Erickson, a San Francisco composer, chances are that you won’t be able to delay that discovery. Through a convergence of old and new commissions, Erickson will be everywhere…”
“Erickson’s score takes a liturgical inspiration, with the Baroque Choral Guild and Ragazzi Boys Chorus singing, for instance, the “Gloria Patri.” The Left Coast Chamber ensemble provided the engaging rhythms and intriguing orchestration, with especially ear-catching percussion.”
“Angels: Fallen and Otherwise arrives with an original score by Kurt Erickson and a performance by the six-member Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, the Baroque Choral Guild and Ragazzi Boys Chorus, all sounding wonderful under Sanford Dole’s direction.”