electrocd

Unto the Sea

Adam Stanović

Unto the Sea

  • Adam Stanović
  • Year of composition: 2022
  • Duration: 8:56
  • Instrumentation: 8-channel fixed medium

To Linda Stansbie

In the weeks prior to her death, my mother longed to see the sea one last time. By that stage, however, it was already too late — she was bedbound, riddled with cancer, and unable to move. In the hope that it would bring her some comfort, I played her some of the recordings that I had made (years ago) of waves crashing on the beach, seagulls squawking, boats in the harbour, and the distant sounds of coastal life. She lay for hours… listening… drifting in and out of sleep… In lucid moments, she told me that she found the recordings peaceful. But she was not at peace. I’m sure of that. The recordings heard in this piece are the same ones that I played during those weeks. I cannot know how my mother really felt, but I couldn’t listen without hearing terror, agony, and fear. In this piece, I try to paint that contrasting sense of serenity and suffering that the recordings invoked. Unlike my other works, which generally aim to invoke colour and vibrancy, this is cast in black and white — a clashing of extremes, that couldn’t be further apart, reconciled in a moment that speaks, to me, of life or death.

[iv-23]

Premiere

  • April 27, 2023, The Engine Room 2023 — Private View, Iklectik, London (England, UK)