Uncovered Ground

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.