Concert Programme

Barry Truax: Rainforest Raven (2020) – This soundscape composition takes you on a journey through a West Coast rainforest, starting with water dripping down the rock ledges at the edge of the forest. As guided by a raven, the overall emotional trajectory for the listener goes from joyful to very sombre, and finally we re-emerge (as hopefully we all will from this dark time we’re going through) into a brighter day.

Aidan Deery: Puerto Edén – Using field recordings made during a ferry trip through the fjords of Chilean Patagonia and other parts of Latin America, this piece presents the imaginary soundscape of Puerto Edén (a remote hamlet located on Wellington Island, Chile) and explores a contrast between natural and mechanical soundscapes. Very much off the beaten track, the ferry I travelled on is the island’s only source of supplies. The roar of the ferry’s engines masked what I imagine to be the serene natural soundscape of this inaccessible, almost mythical place. Composed at the Visby International Centre for Composers.

Trond Lossius: Edgelands starts from a series of field recordings from the suburb and fringes of the city. These zones are critical as urban infrastructures, residential areas and for transport and industry. Still, they come across as bland and anonymous, haphazardly developed and aesthetically neglected. The suburban field recordings reveal an Anthropocene reality. Insects, birds, wind and water cohabitate the sonic environment alongside footsteps, voices, dogs, traffic, trains, metros, ventilation fans, aeroplanes and helicopters. Edgelands makes use of field recordings from Bergen, Stockholm, Stoke on Trent, Cape Town and Windhoek. Commissioned by NOTAM, Edgelands premiered at the Ultima festival in 2019.