ARCTIC JOURNAL, September – October, 2012.
The Arctic Circle www.thearcticcircle.org is an expeditionary residency programme bringing together artists, scientists and innovators from around the world. For 3 weeks, from September 28th to October 15th, aboard an ice-class expeditionary sailing vessel (a 3-masted barquentine) I travelled with 25 other artists of all disciplines, architects, scientists and educators on a collaborative mission into the High Arctic. The event took place in the international territory of Svalbard, 10 degrees from the North Pole.
I joined the expedition in my role as a composer; my goal — to create a choral work inspired by the arctic setting. The completed piece, for several combined choirs, to be performed in Victoria, BC, in November 2013.
Administered by Norway, Svalbard is located about halfway between the NE corner of Greenland and the top of Norway, about the same latitude as Ellesmere Island.
13 August
I’ve been reading a lot about the Arctic (Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez, Polar Bears by Ian Stirling, Journey into Silence by Jack Denton Scott, The Future History of the Arctic by Charles Emmerson,The Last Polar Bear by Steven Kazlowski et al.) and now have a much better sense of the geography, the history and the biology of the Arctic, the changes that have taken place since Europeans began exploring the area, and the recent climatic changes that are affecting the region, along with their short- and long-term consequences. Now I have a sense of what I might see, and what I might want to look for.
Those of us who live in the Temperate Zone are accustomed to long growing seasons, mild climates, moderate rainfall, and a great variety of living creatures. These regions of Earth are able to absorb a certain amount of human abuse; the Arctic is much more ecologically vulnerable and cannot tolerate the same kind of mismanagement. Historically we have viewed the expanses of tundra and ice as wastelands and consequently have not cared much about what happens to them.
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) has become a kind of Arctic canary – an indicator of how badly things are going wrong in the Arctic. As the climate warms and the sea ice melts, the polar bear population decreases. If and when the polar ice cap melts completely, the polar bear will exist only in zoos.
21 August
Icelandic lore (from the ancient Norse book entitled Landnamabok) states that Svalbard was first discovered by Norsemen in 1194. From Langanes on the northeast coast of Iceland it was four days sailing to the “land of the cold coasts.” In 1596 William Barents sailed from Holland looking for a short route to China and on June 9th he anchored off an island where some of his sailors killed a polar bear; Barents named the island Bear Island, and the name remains today. In the 17th and 18th centuries the islands were used as a whaling base, and English, Danish, Dutch and French companies all tried to keep the others out. In the 1890s coal deposits were found, and mining started at the beginning of the 20th century. On 14 August 1925 the Svalbard Treaty took effect, granting full sovereignty to Norway, although the other signatory countries were granted rights to fishing, hunting and mineral resources. The three main industries are now mining, research, and tourism.
All 20-something islands in the archipelago, of which the largest is Spitsbergen, lie well north of the Arctic Circle between 74 and 81 degrees N latitude, about 400 nautical miles from the North Pole. The total land area is 61,022 km sq. (or 23,958 square miles).
11 September
I’ve been gathering some Arctic gear. We have been supplied with a list of what is required, so I first asked my brother Tim, who works at a ski resort in the winter, and he has kindly lent me some arctic clothing. Today I made a trip to Mountain Equipment Co-op and Robinsons to pick up a few more items of clothing suitable for standing around on a cold deck or hiking on glaciers and icepacks… I leave for Iceland one week tomorrow.
20 September, Reykjavik, Iceland
The plane landed at 0645 after smooth flights via Seattle. The temperature here is about 5 degrees; clear sky, sun low on the horizon. The first thing one remarks here is the absence of trees! There are a few low shrubs, but as the airport shuttle drives into town along the shore there are rolling hills of grassland, with hills in the distance.
Met a lady on the short hop to Seattle who was on her way to an autoharp convention in San Jose. Imagine a room full of hundreds of people all playing the autoharp together – apparently this is one of the things they do!
21 September, Reykjavik, Iceland
The population of Iceland is just over 319 thousand, most of whom live in Reykjavik and the surrounding area. The harbour is pretty busy, and fishing and tourism seem to be the main activities here. Yesterday I had a full day walking around the town visiting a couple of museums and taking in the atmosphere while coping with the 7-hour time change and lack of sleep on the flight… At 4:30 I had a pre-arranged meeting with Hordur Askelsson, the organist of the Hallgrimskirkja, and I was able to spend an hour playing the largest organ in Iceland; at 75 stops and over 5,000 pipes this is much bigger than any instrument we have in Victoria.
Then my cousin Janice Balfour (who has lived here for 40 years) met me outside the church and after dinner we attended a concert of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in the amazing new concert hall, the Harpa (Haydn cello concerto and Bruckner 9th Symphony). Now it’s 6:30 am and I’ve been up for an hour, but feeling much refreshed.
23 September, Reykjavik, Iceland
Yesterday Janice took me by car round the route known locally as the “Golden Circle.” We visited the village of Skalholt where there is a new Cathedral, completed in 1963, with a 3-manual Frobenius tracker organ built in 1963 and refurbished or improved in 2000. I spent about 3/4 of an hour playing and enjoying the fine acoustics as well as the lovely tones of the pipes.
Then we went to see the geysers at Geysir, the falls at Gullfoss (pron. gootle-foss), and at the ancient meeting place of Thingvellir (pron. thing-vet-leer) where the Norse chieftains gathered for the first Allthing or general assembly in 930 and continued to convene there until 1798.
All of Iceland’s hot water supply comes from thermal springs, so it is cheap. It contains a higher proportion of salts and minerals than the purified drinking water, so it has a bit of a sulphurous smell to it, but Icelanders claim it has great health benefits. Not only does it run through the city plumbing to each house, but it is also used to heat all the buildings. The outdoor swimming pools are open all year round because again, it doesn’t cost anything to keep the water warm! Icelanders enjoy soaking in their “hot pots” or hot tubs, either at home or at the many public swimming pools.
25 September, Oslo, Norway
I arrived in Oslo yesterday afternoon. It was nice to see large trees again! Iceland doesn’t have very many trees, and those that do grow there are mostly very small native birch, or pine and slightly larger birch that have been planted.
I spent the afternoon walking around the central area and saw the Storting (Parliament), the Royal Palace, the National Theatre, and some churches. The statue on the left in the picture of the Theatre, as you might guess, is of Henrik Ibsen.
Today I went to the Munch Museum and found some scores of Norwegian choral music and some large format music manuscript paper at Norsk Musik Vorlag, a large Norwegian music publishing house. Members of my community choir Via Choralis who are reading this can expect to sing some of this music at our February concert, as well as some Icelandic music I picked up last week in Reykjavik. Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with the organist of the cathedral to play the 1997 Jan Ryde organ.
26 September, Oslo, Norway
After a morning rendezvous with the Cathedral organs and the organist Kare Nordstoga (seen above playing) I met up with a few of the people I’ll be traveling and working with in Svalbard. Some of us visited the harbour and the Akershus Fortress, the Viking Museum and the museum of the ship Fram (photo of me at the wheel) which was the ship of the Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen. One more day in Oslo and then we fly to Longyearbyen, Svalbard on Friday morning.
The weather in Oslo is damp and cool at the moment – reminiscent of Victoria in late November. However the current temperature in Svalbard is running between -12 and -17 Celsius, so I’d better enjoy the warmer weather here while I can!