Listen & tracks
5 of 15 tracks have a preview · 8 works · 65:26
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1 People of this Place Felicity Wilcox 6:29
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2 Uncovered Ground Felicity Wilcox 11:58
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Gouttes d’un Sang ÉtrangerFelicity Wilcox 3 movements7:57
- 3 Tambourin 3:38
- 4 Le Tourbillon (electronic interlude) 1:41
- 5 Le Tourbillon 2:38
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6 Vivre Sa Vie, Composer’s Cut Felicity Wilcox 15:40
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7 Gouttes d’un Sang Étranger Felicity Wilcox La Rêveuse – Coda 4:23
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8 SON-ombra, String Quartet no. 1 Felicity Wilcox SON 6:04
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9 Gouttes d’un Sang Étranger Felicity Wilcox Fragments I–IV 8:10
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10 Snow Felicity Wilcox ii. Falling 4:45
The programme is eclectic and mercurial: early and new instruments share the stage, Marais is recomposed with electronics, and a film-inspired score sits beside a serene slow movement. The album marks the honing of a strong contemporary voice in Australian art music, and a loving tribute to the musicians and ensembles who have championed Wilcox's work.
Reviews
From the violin’s icy delicacy in Falling (from Snow) to the musique concrete-style recording manipulation in Le Tourbillon, her creative vision reigns supreme. The mind-bending fusion of Baroque sensibilities and dissonant textural explorations in the title track probably sum up Wilcox’s historically-informed modernity best. ★★★★★
The music is startling in its originality and use of instrumental techniques and electronic treatments, with much of it informed by other cultures. ★★★★★
... the composer’s introduction [to the title piece] likens the work to a rendered wall that is slowly chipped away to reveal delicate and ornamental forgotten detail. It’s a complex work, featuring instruments in both intimate conversations and larger, powerful groupings. Uncovered Ground is a work that will challenge our notions of the characteristics of both old and new music. Wilcox is in full flight of inventiveness, with innovations in the use of conventional instruments and multiple electronic techniques. The disc opens with People of this Place, the composer’s reflection on her experience of living on unceded Aboriginal lands. The work is written for Jason Noble’s bass clarinet, which is a wonderfully expressive vehicle for the composer’s ideas and seems to reach into one’s very soul. Uncovered Ground is an attractively presented showcase of Felicity Wilcox’s recent chamber works, offering listeners a refreshingly different perspective on both new and old music.
The ensembles on the disc are themselves a clue to the breadth of repertoire on this anthology which ranges from the contemporary to the Renaissance, indigenous Australian to European, manipulated and experimental to traditional. Wilcox’s writing is inventive and creates new frontiers in sound with her techniques and combinations of instruments from duos to octets. Special credit must go to Jason Noble who plays on most of the tracks. His expertise and virtuosic playing give new insights into the versatility of the bass clarinet, whether as an equal partner with the baroque cello, or reborn as a digeridoo or a bird of the outback.
Artists
Felicity Wilcox
piano
Felicity Wilcox is an ARIA and AACTA-nominated Australian composer whose output spans concert music, film and screen scores, songwriting and improvisation, and music for theatre, installation, live events and radio.
Marin Marais
composer
Marin Marais (1656–1728) was a French composer and master of the viola da gamba. His five books of Pièces de viole remain the summit of the French baroque viol repertoire.
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Ironwood · ensemble · tracks 2, 3, 5 and 9
- Ensemble Offspring · ensemble · all except tracks 4 and 8
- Sydney Art Quartet · ensemble · track 8
- Felicity Wilcox · piano · track 10
- Anthea Cottee · viola da gamba · tracks 4, 7 and 9
- Nathan Henshaw · tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone · tracks 4, 7 and 9
- Jason Noble · bass clarinet, clarinet · all except tracks 4 and 8
- Daniel Yeadon · baroque cello, viola da gamba · tracks 2, 3, 5 and 9
- Freya Schack-Arnott · cello · track 10
Technical credits
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Producer
Felicity Wilcox
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Recording Engineer
Adrian Barr (tracks 4, 7 and 9)
Ian Stevenson (track 8)
Richard Belkner (tracks 1 and 10)
Rose Mackenzie-Peterson (tracks 2, 3, 5–7 and 9)
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Mixing Engineer
Felicity Wilcox (tracks 4, 7 and 9)
Ian Stevenson (track 8)
Richard Belkner (tracks 1 and 10)
Rose Mackenzie-Peterson (tracks 2, 3, 5–7 and 9)
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
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Thanks to
Australia Council for the Arts
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 65 minutes 26 seconds
- Release date
- 17 May 2021
- Categories
- Australian, Classical
- Musical work copyright
- © 2021 Felicity Wilcox
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2021 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3456
- EAN
- 9314574345629
More to explore
Threading the Light
Threading the Light was composed between 2008 and 2012 as the cornerstone of a PhD in composition. Spurred by its 2022 world premiere by The Cooperative after a decade’s wait, Felicity Wilcox presents this personal, ethereal and strongly symbolic work.
Exquisite Harmonies
Exquisite Harmonies features works for viola da gamba and harpsichord, and several harpsichord solos, largely from the French Baroque. The exceptions are Telemann, Abel and Australian composer Troy Russell. A nice treat is an improvised harpsichord fantasia in the style of Telemann.
Nordic Moods & Baroque Echoes
A collaboration between Duo Langborn/Wendel and The Marais Project, this album blends baroque repertoire, new compositions and arrangements, and folk music from Australia and Sweden.
Australian Monody
The Marais Project is joined by countertenor Russell Harcourt for a collection of largely Australian songs and instrumental works, spanning light and darkness, love and loss.
Two
Two brings together Marais Project founding members Jennifer Eriksson, viola da gamba, and Tommie Andersson, gallichon, theorbo and baroque guitar. Each plays alternate brackets of solos before they join in a splendid suite by Marin Marais.
The Garden Party
The Marais Project’s anniversary disc The Garden Party has a festive flavour, mixing world-premiere Marais arrangements and Eriksson’s title track with earlier Move recordings across French baroque, Swedish folk and South American song.