AVES ELEKTRON
Death of the Nightingale
 'What a thing of beauty it is'..Robert Seatter BBC head of history
" A product which not only invites, but demands, your unwavering attention" ....Jon Carter BRITISH TRUST FOR ORNITHOLOGY
" Aves Elektron: Death of the Nightingale is MiE Fielding's multi-media treatise, a sobering reflection of damage, destruction and the end of biodiversity." Richard Allen 'A Closer Listen'

 

The beauty, complexity and science of bird song is the inspiration for many of my soundscapes. As John Cage said, 'Music is everywhere once you decide to pay attention to it'. MiE Fielding


IMPORTANT NOTE: All of the 'AVES ELEKTRON' sound art pieces are constructed and mixed for headphones and NOT speakers. They are designed for a spiritual and immersive 'listening' experience, as apposed to passive 'hearing'.....


And there is a big difference between the two.


"The birds are the opposite of time. They represent our longing for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant song"

Olivier Messiaen


"First and foremost one is setting out to produce an emotional response in the listener. So the challenge was to construct a composition that would convey a message. In this case the message is pretty bleak. The UK has lost some 73 Million birds since 1970 and is now one of the most biodiversity poor country's on planet earth.So I knew that I would be dealing with dissonance'

  I then thought about how I could present this from the bird's point of view - using their voice if you like. But I did not want to 'humanise' them in any way by trying to convert their natural voice to something that was foreign to them and invented by man - ie music - especially Western 12 tone music. Something that has been attempted by many others in the past. Messiaen for example with Catalogue d'oiseaux , written as a celebration of bird life.

  Unlike Messiaen, I wanted to write a composition that reflects the current situation working with natural sound, which is increasingly hard in the modern age as anything 'natural' is replaced by articial 'ugly' ,and dissonant sound;- the sound of the human race sleepwalking into oblivion.

 The idea goes back to an unforgettable incident in the 1990's when I took the late playright Tom Hadaway to experience a dawn chorus, something that Tom had never heard.

  At 5AM we headed for RSPB Church Wood reserve near the village of Hegerley, Buckinhamshire. Any early morning bird song that there may of been was simply drowned out by the quite deafening noise of motorway traffic on the nearby M40. So the memory of that morning became my inspiration and starting point for Death of the Nightingale..."


Over the course of the 40+ minute accompanying CD Electronic composition, using only bird song,our natural world is obscured,degraded and finally obliterated...


UK has 'led the world' in destroying the natural environment


In this book, avant-garde sound artist, ornithologist and author MiE (Mike) Fielding outlines the sorry tale of the UK's catastrophic loss of biodiversity and particularly it's bird life over the past forty years.Fielding offers an explanation as to why this has happened and uncovers some pretty damning statistical evidence that shows how consumerism and greed has transformed a once 'green and pleasant land' into one of the least biodiverse country's on Earth.
 The story is manifested through a combination of text, thought provoking photographs and an accompanying CD. 
Ever since the publication of C.A Witchell's Cries and call-notes of wild birds ( Upcot Gill London 1899 ) composers have striven to capture bird song and relate its complexity using musical notes .....with varying degrees of success.
Perhaps the most celebrated of these works is Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux , a work for piano composed of thirteen pieces, written between October 1956 and September 1958 and devoted to birds and his second wife Yvonne Loriod.
However Bird vocalization (calls and other sounds) can be extremely complex as some species can produce two notes at once by controlling the two sides of the trachea independently , a polyphonic sonic complexity that remains beyond the capabilities of the humble piano. Using his own vast library of recorded bird songs and calls, MiE Fielding's Aves Elektron :Death of the Nightingale brings this experiment with nature right up to date with a stark and enigmatic electronic 'sound art' landscape produced solely from bird sound samples taking the listener on a journey that charts the catastrophic decline of Britain's wild birds.A chilling message that is further enforced by a child's narration of John Clare's classic poem 'The Mores' which although written in 1820, once again finds itself a perfect reflection of mankind's insatiable lust for greed, possessions and perhaps ultimately , his own destruction. The idea of narration over dissonance is demonstrated here in this classic performance of Schoenberg's 'A Survivor from Warsaw'. 

Aves Elektron is intended to be Immersive audio and should be enjoyed using headphones.


MiE Fielding Aves Elektron 'Death of the Nightingale' book and CD
Above Left: C A Witchell's Cries and Call-Notes of WildBirds.'A popular description of the notes employed by our commoner British Birds in Their Songs and Calls'.1899

Above Centre: Catalogue d'oiseaux Olivier Messiaen.

Above Right: MiE Fielding AVES ELEKTRON:Death of the Nightingale book and CD Official Release date SATURDAY 22ND JUNE 2024. Ref VOERT CD45457. There will also be a series of sound installations of this work and accompanying film. Details and dates to be announced.

Please note Aves Elektron first 500 copies sold out but is now back available. 
You can order it direct below and also from Amazon via this link.
Whilst the vast majority of us don't leave reviews, A review on Amazon would be much appreciated thank you. 

Aves Elektron Death of the Nightingale
Aves Elektron CD. 44 minutes
Aves Elektron:Death of the Nightingale

Aves Elektron:Death of the Nightingale


Book 165 x 165  x 16mm. 118 pages. Includes a Sound art CD composition of 44 minutes designed to be played via headphones. PRICE £35.00 + 4.95 shipping


Review at 'A Closer Listen'  here

AVES ELEKTRON
NIGHTJARS

Dusk.

Colder now but a least the midge are fewer.

silence.........

distant curlew....................

..............................distant pheasant.

Silence

Its the woodcock's turn to proudly proclaim..........................

Silence

Silence

Silence

........distant dog, distant twinkling light from a people ...a disconnect

Silence....ear splitting silence..

and then ....


Nightjars

wonderment  !



Hills of the North Rejoice !


AVES ELEKTRON
The wind pump and the willow warbler

Studio constructed ambient / Industrial soundscape. Wheldrake Ings has an unearthly sounding and intermittently moving old wind pump. This landscape music was formed using a field recording of the pump and accompanying singing willow warbler.

SOCIAL MEDIA = PREDATORY EXPLOITATION

#NOMUSICONADEADPLANET