Madsen’s Melting Away: Gravity

The Orchestra of the League of Composers premieres the chamber orchestra version of Pamela Madsen’s Melting Away: Gravity in NYC’s DiMenna Concert Hall

Program Notes

Melting Away: Gravity (2025) for chamber orchestra and voice is a new version of my work Melting Away: Gravity (2011) originally scored for string orchestra, piano, harp, percussion, voice, projection of Arctic sounds with projection of Arctic images by photographer Camille Seaman. Sounds for the original electronics part were collected from the Arctic and Antarctica Arctic and from the seismic recordings of the breakup of one of the largest icebergs ever observed in Antarctica, by University of Washington oceanographer, Seelye Martin (iceberg breakup sounds) provided a sonic background that interacted with the live performance of the notated work for string orchestra. The new chamber orchestra version expands the work to reflect the impact of global warming 14 years later-beyond glacier melt to the devastation of permafrost thaws and exposure of black carbon, ancient, fossilized remains, and potential of unleashing diseases long buried. The first version was a cautionary tale, subtle yet impactful using a string orchestra, percussion, piano and voice to reflect the images of ice melting away. This new work, scored now for full chamber orchestra with addition of winds and brass, to replace the distant spatialized electronic sounds, and make present the imminent voices of rising woolly mammoth remains, and permafrost laid bare, includes a new introductory section and text, a fragment from Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus: I, warning of imminent Global destruction.