Extinction sounds was commissioned by the festival TronTalks 2023 in Tynset/Alvdal, Norway, and premiered on October 21st during the festival that year. The work starts out from my vivid sensory childhood memories of sound from as a conceptual framework. A very personal approach for making music indeed, but at the same time Extinction sounds also examines more universal aspects of the nature of sound. Every sound, and our perception of it, vanishes and never comes back exactly as it was experienced in that moment. Such is the nature of sound. But what we hear, be it spoken words or the call of a bird, alter our subjective experience of reality and may trigger all kinds of emotional responses and intellectual processes. In Extinction sounds I try to examine this aspect of sound as a compositional tool in many ways, in a musical context where my own memories serve as a sonic painting palette.

“Ecologists estimate that the present-day extinction rate is 1,000 to 10,000 times the background extinction rate (between one and five species per year) because of deforestation, habitat loss, overhunting, pollution, climate change, and other human activities — the sum total of which will likely result in the loss of between 30 and 50 percent of extant species by the middle of the 21st century. ”

– Encyclopedia Britannica

The first thing I notice when I wake up is the smell of flowers. Next, I hear the tinkling of sheep bells and a continuum of buzzing insects, varying in pitch and intensity. Some close and some far away, some passing rapidly by. Birds join in now and then, accompanied by sheep chatter. The sunlight streams in through the windows as it softens the morning dew outside and slowly warms the cabin after the chill of night.

Such was the mornings at our family cabin Gammelsætra, some five kilometres into the mountains from the farm where I grew up in Rendalen, Norway. I spent a large part of every summer up there when I was a child, helping my parents look after the sheep. Many years have passed since then, but I can still recall the different sounds and smells as if I had just experienced them. Much of the music for Extinction sounds was composed during several visits to Gammelsætra in the spring and summer of 2023. In the process, I asked myself questions like: is the sounds I hear today the same as the ones I heard 35 years ago? What, if anything, has changed? Can I trust my own memories?

Extinction sounds was commissioned by the festival TronTalks 2023 in Tynset/Alvdal, Norway. The work starts out from my vivid sensory childhood memories as a conceptual framework. A very personal approach for making music indeed, but at the same time Extinction sounds also examines more universal aspects of the nature of sound. Every sound, and our perception of it, vanishes and never comes back exactly as it was experienced in that moment. Such is the nature of sound. But what we hear, be it spoken words or the call of a bird, alter our subjective experience of reality and may trigger all kinds of emotional responses and intellectual processes. In Extinction sounds I try to examine this aspect of sound as a compositional tool in many ways, in a musical context where my own memories serve as a sonic painting palette.

The title also reflects the extinction crisis and loss of biodiversity world-wide. Nature as an object “over there” beyond humankind, a canvas we can look at from a distance, slowly crumbles in a reality where ecological awareness, willingly or not, regains an ever- larger place in our minds.

Leaves never fall
in vain - from all
around bells tolling.

– Chori

I wish to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this project: Glenn Erik Haugland and the rest of the TronTalks family, Audun Strype, Rune Mortensen, Bjørn Kruse, Tynset Kulturhus and the amazing musicians Jon Balke, Torben Snekkestad, Tanja Orning, Sara Övinge, Bendik Bjørnstad Foss, Anders Kregnes Hansen and Veslemøy Narvesen for bringing life to my music.

I would also like to thank Ida, Einar, Liv and the rest of my family and friends for their support along the way, and a special thanks to my parents Åse and Karl Sigurd for passing on their love for the living world to me.

– Sigurd hole

MUSICIANS

Jon Balke - piano
Torben Snekkestad - saxophone and trumpet
Sara Övinge - violin
Bendik Bjørnstad Foss - viola
Tanja Orning - cello
Anders Kregnes Hansen - marimba and percussion
Veslemøy Narvesen - drums and percussion
Sigurd Hole – double bass

ALBUM CREDITS

Music by Sigurd Hole

Recorded live in concert at Tynset Kulturhus on October 21st,

at “TronTalks 2023” (1st performance)

Recorded by Audun Strype
Mix & mastering by Audun Strype
Produced by Sigurd Hole and Audun Strype

John L. Gittleman, “Extinction”,
Encyclopedia Britannica, Aug 6th, 2024
www.britannica.com/science/extinction-biology

Artwork by Sigurd Hole
Photo of Gammelsætra by Karl Sigurd Hole
Cover design by Rune Mortensen
Supported by Arts Council Norway

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