Eric Saroian - Dark Symbols

Eric Saroian - Dark Symbols (for Pierrot ensemble)

Performed by Ensemble Concept/21
Caleb Wenzel, music director
Rebecca Hovan, flute
Christopher French, clarinet
Jameson Cooper, violin
David Machavariani, cello
Jennifer Muñiz, piano
Ben Runkel, percussion

Program Notes:

You walk into a cave. The cave has a malevolent atmosphere about it, and the wind that blows through teeters on being unnatural. The more you stand here, the more the weight of the cave oppresses you. Around the cave are runes and symbols on the walls. Some are scratched - some are in red. It is unclear exactly what each drawing depicts. Some resemble fire, some resemble people, and some are just superimposed shapes and glyphs. The farther down the cave you walk, the more you see depictions of inhuman beings - wings, fangs, and spikes are among the identifiable features. Deeper in the cave, the drawings of these beings get larger and larger, from small imps to human sized creatures to things that stretch the entire arc of the cave. Finally, you reach the end of the cave, only to find a large red circle on the ground, with runes surrounding it. The closer you step to it, the more you feel the cave pushing you back. Suddenly, the image of the cave fades into something otherworldly, and where the circle once was stands an indescribable creature. The largest cave drawings pale in size and scope to this being. The air is full of screams and roars as other creatures fly past you. You stand paralyzed and overwhelmed. As you start to regain your senses, you realize you must leave this place. You run. You turn and run as fast as you can muster. The screams slowly die away, and the landscape slowly shifts back into a cave. You reach the entrance, and the wind now blows as if to match your breath. You feel safer now, but you cannot shake the image of what you experienced in there.