He succeeded. And saved his crew. This incredibly brave and selfless achievement was brought to the big screen, giant actually. “Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure” is an IMAX film, released in 2001 that tells the true story. A highly recommended reconstruction of how the frozen continent can enthrall. As an aside, “Sinfonia Antartica” is the Italian name Ralph Vaughan Williams gave to his seventh symphony, written to honour Shackleton’s feat, most worth listening to.
Montréal’s Valmar Kurol has been enchanted by Antarctica since his first visit as a tourist in 1993. Since then he has taken four more trips to the Antarctic Peninsula, his fascination with a place that other than scientists and explorers, only until recently tourists have seen. He has expressed this positive emotion through music and photography. His third CD in collaboration with fellow composer and keyboard wizard Michael Stibor is the mesmerizing “Symphony Antarctica: Telescopes to the stars”.
A project that took a year and a half’s worth of dedication, hard work and musical collaboration, as underlined by Stibor in the liner notes, most certainly achieves the pair’s goals. Kurol writes that much of the music is based on broader themes related to the continent. Stibor adds that the goal was to compose music that “would not only provide the listener with a sense of time and place, but at the same time to tell musical stories that would transport the listener to faraway places not easily, or often reached.”
That last sentence captures the breadth and beauty of this album. While electronic, computer programmed, the melodies are at times haunting, at others most uplifting. Symphony is an apt, appropriate name as Stibor’s arrangements and mixing make the listener believe that those are actual woodwinds, brass, percussion or strings.
This happens to be one of those recordings best enjoyed not as background but alone if possible, in a quiet space and listened to in entirety. The blend between the three movements demands this. A symphony is a large composition for orchestra normally consisting of several large sections, or movements; here it is just Stibor but the two musical collaborators have indeed stayed true to the definition.
The first movement is “The seasons”, all four. And yes, the temptation to compare with Vivaldi’s composition of almost 300 years ago for violin and orchestra was there, especially the brighter sections. (A paean to Vivaldi might be the third part of the second movement, “Telescopes to the Stars” Cosmic strings.) The frozen continent does indeed have spring, summer, fall and winter, these four sub-movements do suggest, brief as some of them may be the passage of time in the coldest place on earth.
“Telescopes to the Stars” has five parts, starting with Seeking galaxies, suggesting what the nightscape in a clear crisp environment must be. Stunning. The unfolding universe concludes this movement and again, the title adds so much to the music, magical and revealing.
The CD concludes, fittingly with “Icescapes and landscapes”, a movement with two parts that for these ears captured the essence of the beauty that a mere human must surely experience while taking in the surroundings. As Kurol writes, Lake Vostok presents “the mysterious, unknown aspects of the lake, as well as a humorous consideration of the presence of Antarctic mermaids and other creatures”. Mermaids? This one word captures the whimsicalness of this selection.
The last part, Erebus Lava Lake emphasizes the changing dynamics of the lake, not only the continent itself. Alternating restful and rhythmical (mindfully such as wind, waves and eruptions) episodes the achievement is such that the desire to listen to it again arises. A fitting climax and pardon the pun climactic experience.
To read more, listen to selections visit www.symphonyantarctica.com Available at Amazon and iTunes it can also be heard by utilizing the Spotify app. Best however to purchase this sparkling gem and thus not only support the artists but be able to listen to this mood elevating symphony anywhere that you choose.
