
2022-23 / Electro-Chamber
DURATION
60 minutesINSTRUMENTATION
piano/percussion duo, fixed electronicsCOMMISSIONED BY
SHHH!! Ensemble
…latest masterpiece. Horvat is known for distilling complex analyses into avant-garde, yet digestible experiences. Each sample is used sparingly, so as not to overshadow the instruments; they never sound tacky or appended to the music for the sake of melodrama. This musical experience is a much-needed reminder of the healthy world we’re all working toward.
– Zenith Wolfe
La Scena Musicale ★★★★★
Programme Notes
An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene is a continuous multi-movement composition that indexes the sounds of humanity’s destructive past and present. It is an intense and comprehensive musical depiction into how our planet has gotten to this precipice in the climate crisis.
Creating a musical work that encapsulates most aspects of such a large-scale issue like climate change seemed daunting at first. But making the decision to not limit myself in duration helped greatly to include many sources and perspectives. Taking many weeks for conceptualization prior to the start of composing was also very helpful. Spending time with my commissioners, Edana Higham and Zac Pulak, of the SHHH!! Ensemble, at a rural retreat was absolutely essential to the composition’s development. We dreamt and brainstormed what we wanted this music to convey as we planned out the structure of this large-scale work.
The outcome of this preparation resulted in a work that features over 20 different percussion instruments (both pitched and non-pitched), grand piano (including some toy piano), plus a fixed sound design part containing over 150 different audio samples and electronic sounds.
Holocene is divided into 4 parts, the first of which, ‘Causes’ provides an aural summary of the main contributors to the current degradation of our planet. These are sounds we often do not hear in our everyday lives so it was important for me that the music have a raw quality so listeners are made starkly aware that these are the main culprits of our current horrific state. Part 2, ‘Symptoms’, is more of a statement on humankind’s gluttony in consumption and privilege at the mercy of the planet’s natural resources. For this reason, I wanted this part to have a more sardonic tone pointing the lens back at ourselves.
When conceptualizing the story that we wanted Holocene to tell, we had to decide whether or not it should have a happy ending. In other words, should we be optimistic or pessimistic for our future on this planet? I feel hope because I truly believe that there is time to reverse course. Once we’ve established a more sustainable planet, I want future listeners to hear the first two parts of Holocene as a historical catalogue, like a museum gallery, for those destructive reverberations that no longer exist ‘in the wild’ because humans decided it was time to dismantle them (Part 3 – Solutions). If we choose this path, we can ensure a future for the sounds that are truly important to us (Part 4 – The Outcome), making certain those continue to thrive for epochs to come. We might be entering a new age out of the mistakes of our past but with a re-birth comes the ability to choose how we want to move forward.
– Frank Horvat
“Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.”
– Henry David Thoreau

RECORDING
An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene
SHHH!! Ensemble
Producer: Carl Talbot
Label: Leaf Music
PERFORMANCE
December 9, 2023
ATMOS Audio Installation
Debaser’s Pique Festival
Arts Court
Ottawa, Canada
Live Performance World Premiere
January 18, 2025
SHHH!! Ensemble – Edana Higham (piano), Zac Pulak (percussion)
Venturing Hills Farm
Luskville, Canada
PARTS | SECTIONS | AUDIO SAMPLES | INSTRUMENTATION |
---|---|---|---|
CAUSES | 1.1 Negative Energy | Electric Current | Grand Piano Marimba Kick Drums Flexatone Bender Gong Toms Ratchet Timpano Suspended Cymbal |
Oil Rig | |||
Nuclear Reactor | |||
Fracking | |||
Coal Mine | |||
Power Plant | |||
Gas Flaring | |||
1.2 If Trees Fall in the Forest | Chainsaws Clear-Cutting | Grand Piano Marimba Toms | |
Feller Buncher | |||
Trees Falling | |||
Pulp and Paper Mill / Saw Mill | |||
1.3 Industrial Farming | Factory Farming Livestock | Grand Piano Brake Drum Timpano | |
Bottom Trawling Fishing | |||
Pesticide Spraying | |||
Ploughing | |||
Slaughterhouse | |||
1.4 Home Sweet Home | Large Refrigerator | Grand Piano Marimba | |
Dripping Faucet | |||
Air Conditioner | |||
Clothes Dryer | |||
Inefficient Furnace | |||
Lawn Mower | |||
Leaf Blower | |||
1.5 Transportation | Automotive Assembly Plant | Grand Piano Vibraphone Bender Gong Kick Drum Marimba Timpano Wind Gong Toms | |
Traffic Congestion | |||
Car Horns | |||
Fire Truck | |||
Cars Idling | |||
Gas Station | |||
Winter Salting Truck | |||
Cement Truck | |||
Backhoe | |||
Cargo Ships | |||
Cruise Ships | |||
Air Travel | |||
1.6 War, What is it Good For? | Missiles | Grand Piano Timpano Splash Cymbal | |
Bomb Detonations | |||
Ammunition Firing | |||
Air Raid Siren | |||
SYMPTOMS | 2.1 Garbage | Backing-Up Garbage Truck | Grand Piano Marimba |
Dumped Garbage | |||
Industrial Trash Compactor | |||
Whales In Polluted Waters | |||
2.2 Batteries Not Included | Furbies | Toy Piano Desk Bells Ratchet Flexatone | |
Tamagotchi | |||
Bop It | |||
Tickle Me Elmo | |||
Electric Gizmos Powering-Up | |||
2.3 Entitlement | Muscle Cars | Grand Piano Bass Drum Chopper Cymbal Suspended Cymbal | |
Personal Watercraft | |||
Golf | |||
2.4 Weather Report | Desertification | Grand Piano Shakers Tambourine Vibraphone Wind Gong | |
Locusts | |||
Storms | |||
Emergency Alarm | |||
Tsunami | |||
Flooding | |||
2.5 Food Inc. | Soft Drinks | Grand Piano Marimba Plastic Water Bottles | |
Processed Foods | |||
TV Static | |||
Bathroom Scale | |||
2.6 Excess | Cash Registers | Desk Bells Toy Piano Timpano Grand Piano Bender Gong Brake Drum Chopper Cymbal Suspended Cymbal | |
Selfies | |||
Shopping Malls | |||
Big-Box Stores | |||
Black Friday Shopper Stampede | |||
Air Raid Siren | |||
Stock Exchange | |||
Clothing Sweatshop | |||
2.7 The Cost | Clear-Cut Forest | “Extinction Toll” Snare solo Grand Piano Wind Gong Snare Drum Bass Drum | |
Glacier Collapsing | |||
Forest Fire | |||
Ventilator | |||
SOLUTIONS | Time Ticking | ||
3.1 Switch Off | Light Switches | Grand Piano Shakers | |
Electronics Powering-Down | |||
3.2 Regenerative Agriculture | Animals Grazing | Grand Piano Crotales | |
Irrigation Water Trickling | |||
Digging | |||
Planting Seeds | |||
Cultivating / Raking | |||
Wind Through Crops and Trees | |||
3.3 Wind Turbine 3.4 Transportation | Wind Turbine | Whirly Tubes Grand Piano Marimba | |
Walking | |||
Cycling | |||
Electric Bus | |||
3.5 Vote 3.6 The People vs. Big Oil 3.7 Eating Healthy | Pencil Marking Ballot | Grand Piano Marimba | |
Court Proceedings | |||
Eating Apple | |||
Biting Carrot | |||
Opening Preserves Jar | |||
3.8 Repair/Reuse | Hammering | Grand Piano Marimba Crotales | |
Sawing | |||
Building | |||
People Working Together | |||
3.9 Education | Children In School | Grand Piano Crotales Shakers | |
THE OUTCOME | 4.1 Healthy Planet | Bees | Grand Piano Vibraphone |
Healthy Ocean | |||
Jumping Fish | |||
Spring, Birds, Rain | |||
Summer, Cicadas | |||
Fall, Migrating Geese | |||
Hermit Thrush | |||
Old-Growth Forest Breeze | |||
4.2 Healthy People | Deep Breathing / Meditation | Grand Piano Vibraphone Suspended Cymbal |