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.
The second track is the aptly named “Trances and Pulses”, one the album’s most captivating journeys. Trance music is a form of hypnotic and throbbing synthesizer-based dance music. Kurol informs us that a pulsating star research program has been operating at the French-Italian Concordia Research Station, on the high Antarctic Plateau, since 2007. It is one of the best places on Earth for astronomical observations. Hence a suitably trippy excursion from distant stars to pulsation fields on ice-covered land.
Kurol notes that there is considerable debate as to the level of visitors and even about the appropriateness of disturbing what is for the most part self-governed activity. That, and climate change with resulting loss of critical if not vital Southern Ocean ice cover are threatening the beauty of Antarctica.
That wonderful distant white continent is no longer difficult to reach. Tourism is facilitated by ship. An estimated 124,000 visitors discovered wondrous landscapes and viewed wildlife in 2024-25. Kurol notes that there is considerable debate as to the level of visitors and even about the appropriateness of disturbing what is for the most part self-governed activity. That, and climate change with resulting loss of critical if not vital Southern Ocean ice cover are threatening the beauty of Antarctica. Every CD has emphasized this reality. Yet the duo are still able to have fun, for on every CD there is at least one upbeat, frolicsome number. This time it is the turn of the hardy and social penguin to shine, the bird being perhaps the creature most associated with Antarctica. Kurol and Stibor dedicate the tune “Funky Penguin” to the iconic “waddling, sliding and gliding penguins.” Not only does the funk style lend itself with syncopation and bass rhythms to these “cool” tuxedoed marchers but as any visitor can attest, coastal landing spots have a funk—as in smell—of their own: ubiquitous penguin guano.
Part of Kurol’s mission is to increase public awareness of the region for the support of the important science being done there. He notes that artists in many fields—from writing, performance, and installation arts to music—“can have a role as critical analysts and may be seen as researchers in their own right.” Through their music the duo applauds the creative interpretations of the dynamics of Antarctica.
This CD might be best described as Antarctic love lilts, as captured in “Postlude to Antarctica”, the final cut on the recording. Kurol depicts it thus: “a musical passage through a wondrous coastal vista of ice-strewn channels and icebergs, flanked by glaciated mountains rising from the depths of the deep, cold water.” Truly, this track brings these words to life.
The final word should go to Michael Stibor, whose introduction focuses on “a kind of silence in Antarctica that’s hard to describe—not empty, but alive in its stillness. With each album, we try to translate that silence into sound: echoes of wind across ice, distant memories of warmth, imagined histories beneath the ice.” During this process “Valmar and I keep digging into snowdrifts of inspiration, and somehow, there’s always something strange and beautiful buried beneath.” A lovely summary, and the result is a warm and inspiring musical companion for the not-so-cold (Canadian climate change…) winter nights ahead.
On Track for Antarctica is available for purchase on Apple Music, Amazon Canada, and Spotify. Visit ontrackforantarctica.com for more.
Tõnu Naelapea
