NIGHT WHALES
A new work in progress…
During the early nineteenth century whales in South Australia’s Encounter Bay were slaughtered to near extinction.
The empty ocean grieved for 100 years, before whales began to return.
Now each winter, mother whales bring their calves to the bay and from the shore, humans watch in wonder.
For several years of the pandemic I lived in Encounter Bay, 100 kilometres south of Adelaide. There I found solace in the wild Southern Ocean and saw live whales for the first time. This led me to research whaling in the region. The region’s whaling history is a story of naive destruction, subsequent loss and renewed hope. It is a powerful message during this time of climate change and uncertainty, and inspired me to create a musical work.
‘Night Whales’ will be a major piece of four movements, scored for voices, wind instruments, percussion and piano.
I began the first draft of the music as four discrete concert movements. Emlyn (my husband and long term creative partner) and I are now work together to explore and develop an immersive sonic and visual experience for audiences.
In the post pandemic era we have considered how live music needs to give audiences an experience worth leaving home for. Home experience of music is 2D, live music can offer 3D. We are exploring how non-amplified music can be manipulated in space using acoustic shapes such as exponential horns. We will also look at how sound can be experienced visually in real time, with Emlyn creating software that can transform dimensions of the sound (pitch, volume, timbre) into dimensions of light (colour, brightness, movement) which can be projected into the space. This will create an effect, as one musician said in a workshop of “the instruments having synesthesia”.
Movement One - Furnace
for four baritone soloists, SATB choir and percussion.
This movement will centre around ‘The Furnace’, an unsettling musical sculpture of pipes and acoustical horns. It will explore the ravenous hunger of nineteenth century industry for whale oil that led to the slaughter of whales in Encounter Bay, with the soloists and percussionist serving as technicians for The Furnace.
Movement Two - Elegy For A Grieving Ocean
for wind quintet, baritone soloist and percussion.
For one hundred years the ocean grieved. This movement was commissioned by Linda Pirie for her ensemble Windsong Quintet, and workshopped with funding from Chamber Music Adelaide. The concert version of this movement is scheduled for premiere in November 2024. In this movement small microphones will pick up the sounds from the instruments, converting them to lights, which will be projected into the space.
Movement Three - Cana Cludhmor
for soprano and extended technique piano.
A mediaeval Irish story of how the first Irish harp was invented, inspired by the sound of wind through the bones of a whale skeleton. Death, music, invention, new beginnings. This movement was commissioned by Chamber Music Adelaide and the concert version was premiered in May 2024. In Night Whales this movement will express how human imagination and invention can create something as beautiful as a harp, or as fragile as the possibility of hope. More here… In later productions this movement will incorporate sculptural elements with fabric animated with fans.
Movement Four - Sanctuary
featuring mezzo-soprano, and incorporating all the forces in the work.
This will express the experience of watching whales return to the Bay. In 2025 this movement will be performed with a projected film of dawn, recorded in Encounter Bay. The music will begin with a solo flute and mezzo-soprano, singing out in the darkness, and slowly build, adding an instrument at a time, as the sun rises, and whales and hope return. In later productions, we will add individual sound shells for each musician.
Listen
Excerpts of Elegy For A Grieving Ocean workshop session and a live recording of the concert version of Cana Cludhmor.
Emlyn and I are creating this work one step at a time, following our creative noses - Emlyn’s expertise in tech, AI, mathematics and my composition.
You are welcome to come on the journey with us and subscribe to the Night Whales mailing list to get updates on performances of each movement, the development of the full show and our creative journey along the way.
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