Antarctica
for choir SSA, two solo
violins and organ (2002)
duration: 6’
text by Ross Baglin
GRT • 088
audio sample
score
available from
Australian Music
Centre
program note
Antarctica is a setting of a new text by Melbourne
poet Ross Baglin, with whom the composer has worked closely
for the past 18 years. The text alludes to rising sea
levels caused by the melting of the polar ice caps due to
global warming. The opening figure in the violins
represents the monolithic, impenetrable white cliffs of the
great ice continent. The main chorus, “I feel you arise”,
is anthemic and musically celebrates the relatively
untouched beauty of Antarctica. The line “One day glacier
will run like ribbons on the stairs”, however, is the
poet’s reminder that a very different future may already be
rushing toward us.
The piece was commissioned and premiered
by MLC School, Sydney, conducted by Paul Stanhope.
Antarctica is dedicated to the memory of Anna
Rogachevsky.
review
"The Australian
guests commenced with Antarctica by Stuart Greenbaum. With two violins
placed in the pulpit and many solo voices arranged with an
accompanying organ, it proved very effective."
Willy
Henriksen, Sandefjords Blad
(Norway), September
2004
text
Anti-equatorial,
Forsaken by tiger
And scarlet lily, flirting
After frond and stream,
You lie in iron waters,
Silver, continent and still;
The solid waves
That pitch from cliffs,
The glaciers fanned
And filed to scree,
All these the gibbering birds decry
To mute and neutral distances ;
"Only the hardy are serene,
The sinless, unforgiving".
Ark of the
waters,
I feel you arise.
Tick, revolving clock
Of oceans, wake the dark
Spread scarlet to the peak ;
Break news of daylight,
As the pack ice creaks
Below you, and the calved floe breaks
To the sleeping, insolent streets.
A world is melting.
One day glacier will run
Like ribbons on the stairs
The iceberg clink in the glass ;
Kiribati's blue ceiling,
The white bitten coast
Lie still in the mutable air.
Ark of the
waters
I feel you arise.