The Book of the Sediments
Newton Armstrong/Juliet Fraser
(All That Dust, CD, DL)
Before Rachel Carson delivered the devastating alarum that constitutes (1962), she wrote a biography of the oceans of our planet. (1951) is that rare thing – a scientific book (Carson was a marine biologist) as well as a piece of prosepoetry, a paean, a richly sensual voice and electronics composition by Newton Armstrong with the British-Canadian soprano, Juliet Fraser. One of four Carson-based commissions created by Fraser (details of the others are on her website), is aptly named. Its progress is one of layers of sound and words rising and falling in gentle motion, gradually building up new tones and rhythms.
