Erasure pieces

The 'Erasure pieces'  is a series of pieces with voice where Latin source texts are manipulated by means of erasure in order to generate new texts. So far there are three;

Radii solis, et sternet (sibi aurum) quasi lutum,
Si beatitudo aeterna non est malo in somniis versari,
and  Mars Pater.

Radii solis, et sternet (sibi aurum) quasi lutum (2012)

for baroque ensemble and vocal quartet

The text is a reduction of Iob 41 from the Vulgate Bible (see picture above). Listen to an excerpt here, from the premiere conducted by Erik Uddunge:

Si beatitudo aeterna non est malo in somniis versari (2016)

for mezzo soprano and eighteen musicians

The root text for this piece is the eclogues of Calpurnius Siculus.

Watch and listen to the premiere by Contemporaneous below, conducted by David Bloom:

Mars Pater (2011)

for SATB choir

The text to Mars Pater is drawn from Cato (the Elder)'s 'De Agricultura'. Unlike the other two pieces in this series, the text here consists almost in its entirety of syllables that does not create coherent words or sentences, except for at the very peak of the composition where the choir in unison sings 'Mars Pater'; the text is about how to make offerings to Mars in order for the crops to grow and purify the land. 

Listen to the piece below, from the premiere performed by KMH Vokalensemble: