Robert Erickson (1917-1997) is one of the most interesting and neglected American composers of the latter half of the twentieth century. This recording features compositions from 1963 to 1977 that embody the characteristics for which his work became most recognized: a heightened interest in the atmosphere of a piece, an obsession with timbre, ways of varying the sound of a work with experiments in new technique, and explorations into the new worlds uncovered through the invention of tape recording.

Like the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, much of the music here has a quality of timeless lament, of inconsolable sorrow. Tenderly human in expression yet superhuman in scale, it seems to contemplate our condition from a very great height. Mr. Marshall (b. 1942) enhances this effect by interweaving conventional instruments with prerecorded, computer-manipulated sounds or with live devices, like digital delay. The fusion of electronic manipulation and human intention is seamless but never slick.