SOLI Chamber Ensemble & Scott Ordway Release THE CLEARING AND THE FOREST
The 90-minute work unfolds in three "acts," centering on a group of people whose cold, northern home has become an impossible place to remain.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Mar. 31, 2022
The Clearing and the Forest, a work exploring the relationship between landscape, migration, and refuge, by composer and multimedia artist Scott Ordway comes to life in a new album featuring SOLI chamber ensemble on the Acis label released on April 14, 2022.
"In 2018, I watched the forced separation of small children from their families at the US border with horror," said Ordway. "I was immediately moved to create a work through which I could boldly, plainly, and publicly affirm my support for the rights of refugees as well as our sacred, ancient, and transcultural obligation to provide shelter to those who seek it. In this piece, I sought to forcefully and unequivocally articulate my own views on a subject which continues to divide our society."
The 90-minute work unfolds in three "acts," centering on a group of people whose cold, northern home has become an impossible place to remain. Forced to leave all that they know, they wander both individually and in groups in search of a new home. Eventually, they reunite, and are perhaps better for having made the journey, but share a memory of the place they have lost. Each act represents a different stage of their journey through multiple climate zones, and their shared experience introduces travelers to new natural environments, and new relationships to food and agriculture, climate, and daily habits.
The Clearing and the Forest was praised as "complete and meaningful" by the San Antonio Express-News in its premiere by SOLI at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio in 2019. The live evening-length performance includes a set designed entirely of botanical materials, and the performers doubling as silent actors, performing in, with, and around these natural elements. As these found, foraged, and farmed botanic materials change, the fragrance in the performance space evolves accordingly, conjuring a provocative, multisensory experience, creating what the San Antonio Current called "an immersive landscape."
Credits: Scott Ordway: The Clearing and the Forest
Produced by Scott Ordway
Engineered, Edit, Mastering by Alexander Brusencev.
Recording dates: Jan 6-12, 2022
Ruth Taylor Concert Hall, Trinity University
Cover Photo & Design Scott Ordway
UPC: 198003350069
Cat #: APL50069
Release date: April 14, 2022
DPP: www.acisproductions.com/ordwaysoli
Performers: SOLI Chamber Ensemble
[Stephanie Key, Ertan Torgul, David Mollenauer, Carolyn True, Scott Ordway]
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