Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977)
ARCHORA (2022)
AIŌN (2018)
Iceland Symphony Orchestra/Eva Ollikainen
rec. 2022, Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland
Sono Luminus DSL92268 CD/Blu-ray [62]
The Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir is quickly becoming one of the most performed contemporary composers. In recent years, I have heard three of her works performed on four occasions in the concert hall, and this is the second CD of her music to come my way this year. I have found her creativity to be of great interest. She has a distinct voice unlike many of her contemporaries and is fortunate to have such reliable interpreters in this outstanding orchestra from Reykjavik.
The Iceland Symphony Orchestra brought Metacosmos on their tour of the UK this year. I was very impressed by that piece, which is longer and more intense than the other works I have heard by Thorvaldsdottir. As the booklet informs us: ‘The core inspiration behind ARCHORA centres around the notion of a primordial energy and the idea of an omnipresent parallel realm – a world both familiar and strange, static and transforming, nowhere and everywhere at the same time.’ ARCHORA was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the Proms, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, l’Orchestre de Paris, and the Klangspuren Schwarz Festival.
Her music has often been called atmospheric, meditative and powerful; in an interview at the Berlin Philharmonic, she said: ‘In my music, I work a lot with fundamental harmonies and harmonic structures combined with ethereal textural of often non-pitched materials. I spend a lot of time working on and finding a structure for each work and generating a sense of flow in and out of focus and between various atmospheres in the music. Orchestration naturally plays a big role in striking the balance between the materials in the overall structure. When I have a clear idea about what the music is and where it is going, I work on the music from all perspectives, from the tiniest details in each instrument to the whole overall structure of a piece, and on combining these into a whole that flows naturally from beginning to the end.’
ARCHORA opens with dark-hued tones from the bass clarinet, contrabassoon, bass trombone, tenor and bass tubas, cellos, basses and rattling chains on D flat. This hints of what is to come with rising and falling surges of orchestral voices, and is interrupted by soaring strings, which are quickly transformed into loud thuds on the percussion. Anxiety and tension build, as if some great event is about to happen, yet instead the sounds descend to a shrill screaming on the wind instruments. The composer has written solo roles for individual players – then the work reaches a climax and slowly disappears into nothing. As Thorvaldsdottir indicates in the score, we have traversed ‘the distance on a thin rope’ while carrying a delicate flower ‘without dropping it or falling.’
She continues, ‘the inspiration behind ARCHORA and AIŌN is not something I am trying to describe through the music or what the music is “about”, as such. Inspiration is a way to intuitively tap into parts of the core energy, structure, atmosphere and material of the music I am writing each time. […] it emerges as a stream of consciousness that flows, is felt, sensed, shaped and then crafted. So inspiration is a part of the origin story of a piece, but in the end the music stands on its own.’
There are three movements in AIŌN. Morphosis opens as if we are embarking on a voyage of sound impressions, and as the intensity surges, we have the feeling of travelling through time zones with switches of sensitivity and emotional cries shattered by the percussion. Transcension is poignant and often dream-like, that nirvana ending with drums, then the attractive idea from the opening section reappears before Entropia, the last movement; it opens with a glissando on the violins again interrupted by the percussion, and the themes eventually re-appear before slowly dying away into silence.
This release on Sono Luminus includes two discs, a CD and a Blu-ray. The Blu-ray provides the ideal option to hear the remarkable orchestral variety Thorvaldsdottir offers. I have listened three times to the CD and once to the Blu-ray; perhaps it might be a good idea to listen on headphones to avoid complaints from your neighbours. There is a booklet with notes by the composer and Doyle Armbrust about both works, biographies of the composer, conductor and orchestra, plus black and white photos of the musicians. Dorian Sono Luminus have championed Thorvaldsdottir, and this release brings her orchestral works up to date. This is firmly recommended to all who are interested in contemporary music.
Gregor Tassie
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