On Track for Antarctica is the duo’s seventh release of instrumental passages, the eighth CD for Kurol, who has been entranced by Antarctica since 1993. Translating that affection has come through on every recording, their compositions are enhanced by thoughtful and passionate liner notes, photographs, and quality graphics.
Once again Kurol and Stibor experiment with a wide range of styles, ranging from electronic to funk, jazz, and orchestral. It is the opening cut on the disc that emphasizes their breadth; “Sonata Antarctica for Small Orchestra” swoops and soars over Antarctica’s largest island, Alexander Island, off the west coast in the Bellingshausen Sea. (As noted in previous writing, the Bellingshausen clan of German nobility is prominent in Livonian and Estonian history, especially in Saaremaa. Having an Antarctic sea named after him immortalized the explorer, seafarer, and governor of Kronstadt, Admiral Fabian von Bellingshausen.) Kurol’s liner notes, as always, provide fascinating and educating information. Many of Alexander Island’s geographical features were named after great classical composers. Kurol names Beethoven Peninsula, Brahms Ice Shelf (surely a place to listen to that romantic composer’s First Symphony!), Berlioz Point, and Mahler Spur, among many others.
