For those unaware, it is hardly an overstatement to say that, regardless of one’s artistic discipline or aesthetic orientation, among the biggest questions facing artists today is the very future of humanity itself. That might sound bleak, but it’s difficult to contest the precariousness of the present moment, be it in the political, environmental, or technological realm.

Rather than grappling with this topic beneath the surface of his music, Vancouver-based Mexican-Canadian composer Alfredo Santa Ana has elected to work with these assumptions transparently on his new release, Before the World Sleeps, though not in the manner that one might expect. In his case, these concerns manifest more in terms of his approach than as some sort of programmatic arc.

The impact of these conditions on those composing music for others to interpret is undeniably particular to that world. If technology encroaches further, if intrapersonal connections become more strained, and if performances become less-than-feasible because of climate change or the economy, artists in the concert music realm will need to radically rethink things.

Yet, as Santa Ana notes, his goal with this album, was not to celebrate despair or calamity, or to come up with music filled with ideas about the end of the world and humanity’s demise. It was to reorient the compositional process toward creating small pieces of music that I could finish quickly, and using an archiver’s mindset, commit them to a recording rather than prepare them for public performance.

1. A Council of Apparitions - I. Zaloasymphnesis (7:09)
2. A Council of Apparitions - II. Castle Keep (4:31)
3. A Council of Apparitions - III. Two Worlds (5:49)
4. Memory, I often think of you as time ash… - I. A New Culture of Nostalgia (2:43)
5. Memory, I often think of you as time ash… - II. The Feeling of Forgetting (1:48)
6. Memory, I often think of you as time ash… - III. Lessons for Oblivion (2:45)
7. Memory, I often think of you as time ash… - IV. Phantom Étude (2:09)
8. Colours - I. Fuchsia (2:05)
9. Colours - II. Marigold (1:13)
10. Colours - III. Aegean (1:21)
11. Colours - IV. Wheelbarrow Red (1:28)
12. Colours - V. Absinthe (1:13)
13. Little Ice Age - I. The Cold Gathers (2:40)
14. Little Ice Age - II. Ice Gods Don’t Keep (2:54)
15. Little Ice Age - III. The Introvert (2:31)
16. Little Ice Age - IV. Prayer to a Vanishing Sun (3:50)
17. Little Ice Age - V. Snow Dirge (2:19)
18. Little Ice Age - VI. The Last Hymn (1:40)

Recorded on July 25th & 26th, 2024 at HippoSonic Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, this beautifully sculpted new recording opens on the beautiful three part A Council of Apparitions: the delicately-hued Zaloasymphnesis, the crystalline notes within Castle Keep and then we get the languishing, yet emboldened Two Worlds; and then comes the stunning four part work Memory, I often think of you as time ash…: opening on the flourishing A New Culture of Nostalgia, the cogent The Feeling of Forgetting, the grandeur of Lessons for Oblivion, rounding out on the breathtaking, sheer elegance of Phantom Étude.

Along next is the profound five part Colours: which begins with the ornately-imbibed Fuchsia, then we get the stoic Marigold, the foreboding nature within Aegean, the stillness, one minute, startling the next of Wheelbarrow Red, and culminates on the delicate hue found veined throughout Absinthe; the impassioned six part Little Ice Age bringing the collection to a conclusion: the graceful The Cold Gathers, the flirtatious Ice Gods Don’t Keep, the intricate The Introvert, a sense of foreshadowing within Prayer to a Vanishing Sun, ending on the calming Snow Dirge and a sense of conforming quietude within The Last Hymn.

Musicians:
Miranda Wong - Pianist
Alfredo Santa Ana - Composer

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