James Erber: The Traces Cycle

That work was, first of all, a “reading-through” of Byrd’s motet Emendemus in melius, making explicit both Erber’s interest in music of the Renaissance and early Baroque and his concern with spiritual and artistic continuity. But its tripartite scheme of source and multiply layered commentary was confirmed by a visit the composer paid while working on the piece to the site of the Roman town of Herculaneum, where he saw the ancient ruin set alongside the present-day settlement of Ercolano, itself consisting of the old town on the cliff and the modern buildings behind it, all three layers visible to varying degrees from a single vantage-point.