Recordings
Sol
This album features mostly solo originals written by Madeleine Antoine during the Covid-19 lockdown, when she was experimenting with electronics. What surfaced is at once ambient, experimental, folk and classical.
I. ELEGY FOR A BURNING WORLD
Written about the impending climate catastrophe, this piece is a lament for our natural environment, which is being carelessly destroyed for capital gains.
II. EXTINCT
This movement is for all the plant and animal species lost, a reminder of the importance of swift action to secure the future of wilderness areas.
THE GAP
The Gap is a wild and powerful coastal landscape with towering cliffs and surging waters. The piece denotes the wind, waves crashing and vast ocean of this seemingly untameable place in Albany, where Madeleine was born.
FOR CAITLYN
This piece was specially commissioned by dear friend, C. Davidson. The first section has a celtic folk influence, and the second part references the work of Hildegard von Bingen, one of the first known female composers from the Medieval era, beginning with the monophonic chant line and then looping it into cacophony. This was chosen especially for the recipient who is a Medieval historian.
ARVO PÄRT 'FRATRES' – Pianist: Tara John
Arvo Pärt's music is classical minimalism at it's finest. 'Fratres' tanslates as 'brothers' and invokes a sense of belonging. This piece was recorded in collaboration with pianist Tara John.
ALKISAH II – SENYAWA REMIX
This piece was a response to a global callout for remixes by renowned Indonesian experimental act Senyawa, seeking to decentralise their music, and inspire others to do the same.
The Dying Sun
The Dying Sun depicts the natural environment as precious and rare. It is an homage to the land, made all the more important because of our knowledge of the frailty of wilderness and the rapidity with which the environment is diminishing.
The 1st movement Blood, meaning ‘lifeblood’, is in reference to the sun. It is mostly slow and gestural, and explores images of a wide expanse of land over the course of the day. The sun rises and the sun dies. The movement explores the detail which can be created out of a single note through the expression and texture.
The 2nd movement Milk depicts the vast Milky Way constellation.
The 3rd, Nectar, refers to the canola fields, the rustling harmonic sounds evoking the movement of wildflowers and insects.
The final movement Salt explores the coastal area at Sugarloaf Rock - a large natural granite island rising dramatically out of the ocean near Cape Naturaliste in the south west.
The Dying Sun was released by Move Records, and is available as a CD.
