DESCRIPTION:
Composed and performed by Cheryl E. Leonard.

This is a 5-minute excerpt from a live performance of "Polarnatt" in the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival at the Brava Theater on September 8, 2012. The length of the complete composition is 14'22".

"Polarnatt" is the Norwegian term for polar night, the portion of the year when the sun does not rise above the horizon in the polar regions. The length of the polar night ranges from twenty hours at the Arctic or Antarctic Circle (latitude 66°33' N or S) to 179 days at the North or South Pole. This piece was inspired by the four weeks I spent in the fall of 2011 exploring Svalbard, an archipelago high above the Arctic Circle north of mainland Norway. During my time in Svalbard I experienced the profound changes in length of day, quality of light, and temperature that characterize the region's short autumn. By the time I left, a week before the sun set for the winter, daytime had waned dramatically, going from 12 hours to 5 hours in length, and I couldn't help but contemplate what it would be like to experience polar night.

The instruments played in "Polarnatt" are Norwegian seashells, Antarctic limpet shells, stones from Svalbard and Antarctica, glass, and sea salt. The piece also includes field recordings I made in Svalbard of melting brash ice, and an improvisation I played on metal handrails in Pyramiden, an abandoned Russian coal-mining town.

For more information about Cheryl E. Leonard's music visit www.allwaysnorth.com