The music of Iceland is rooted in landscape and community - an environment where even a handful of instrumentalists or singers can speak with elemental force. Sofi Jeannin conducts the BBC Singers in a selection of short 20th and 21st century Icelandic choral works: timeless harmonies, both sacred and secular.
Around these vocal miniatures, the superb young artists of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama perform chamber music by Icelandic composers. “There's a very small population in Iceland, and people tend to do everything” says composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, whose Sequences and Transitions form the heart of this afternoon’s concert. This is music with a deeply human soul – finding beauty in isolation, and glowing with emotion in the long Northern nights.
PROGRAMME
HAFLIDI HALLGRIMSSON Seven Epigrams for violin and cello
THORKELL SIGURBJORNSSON Hosianna
ANNA THORVALDSDOTTIR eyr þú oss himnum á (Hear us in Heaven)
ANNA THORVALDSDOTTIR Sequences
ANNA THORVALDSDOTTIR Transitions
HJÁLMAR H. RAGNARSSON Ave Maria
THORKELL SIGURBJORNSSON Heyr himna smiður (Hear, Heavenly Creator)
JÓN NORDAL / JÓNAS HALLGRÍMSSON´Smávinir Fagrir´ (Beatuiful Little Friends)
ANNA THORVALDSDOTTIR Reminiscence
THORDUR MAGNUSSON Scenes of Iceland
