Erosion is a musical depiction of the natural process by which wind, rain, and time gradually wear down even the most imposing landscapes. The piece begins with a unified, homophonic texture: broad, resonant tones represent the solid mass of a mountain, unmoving and majestic. As the piece unfolds, this solidity begins to fragment—textures become more independent, rhythms loosen, and the musical surface begins to crumble.
Gradually, the quartet shifts from unity to intricate independence, evoking the persistent forces of nature as they erode stone into smaller and more agile fragments. Ultimately, the arrival of short, pointed motifs suggests scree tumbling and dancing at the mountain’s base—light, scattered, and full of energy, in contrast to the monolithic opening.
Erosion is both a sonic journey and a metaphor: a transformation from monumentality to movement, from stasis to rhythm, capturing the beauty and inevitability of natural change.