Debut Album by Melbourne ensemble Collider entitled Words. 

Homeland

Solo In Red – based on the writings of Cormac McCarthy.
Composed by Kynan Robinson
Performed by Collider.

The writing of Cormac McCarthy, specifically the novels Blood Meridian, Suttree and The Border Trilogy have been the basis of the piece Solo In Red performed by the Melbourne ensemble Collider. McCarthy’s writing and the atmosphere he creates has a sparseness, detachment and tension and is always touched with a dry wit. He presents both the absolute beauty and horror of existence, often within the same sentence. Robinson feels "McCarthy deals with the big issues of life and death; the meaninglessness of life and the absolute essence of it. McCarthy’s writings are full of the fragility of life. It is often overlaid with deep spirituality. There is also a deep sparseness to his work. How can something be regarded as sparse when every sentence is packed to its limits? The fuller you make things the sparser the overall framework can be. McCarthy’s work has a frightening bleakness to it, a bleakness that can be turned into great beauty if you have the courage to face it."

These are some of the ideas that composer Kynan Robinson felt a personal connection to and attempted to communicate when writing this piece of music.

The piece was originally presented by The Melbourne Writers Festival (co presented by the Melbourne Recital Centre) in August 2012 and this recording is performed by renowned Melbourne Ensemble Collider, an ensemble comprising of some of the cities best Jazz and Classical performers.

Adam Simmons - Tenor Saxophone
Kynan Robinson - Trombone
Anita Hustas - Double Bass
Jason Bunn - Viola
Andrea Keeble - Violin
Ronny Ferella -  Drums


Colliderensemble