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Record Reviews

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2015

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Record Reviews
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

page 35 note 1 Notes to DCCD 9002.

page 37 note 2 Music in our Time’, BBC Radio 3, 9 05 1991 Google Scholar.

page 37 note 3 Ibid.

page 53 note 1 Orchestrated along with the Chaconne, in 1948, the Passacaglia was issued on CRI SD-179.

page 54 note 2 who also provided one; the others were by Gunnar Reynir Sveinsson, Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Leifur Thorarinsson and Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson; recorded on LP, ITM 4. Gunnar Reynir Sveinsson (b. 1933) has composed several liturgical works, including a Mass for voices and chorus (1961), Missa Piccola for voices, chorus, flute and organ (1982), Te Deum and Gloria (both 1984), as well as 2 organ sonatas (1982), piano pieces and songs. He worked also as a jazz musician and as a percussionist in the Iceland SO (1956–64). His delightful 3-movement wind quintet, Departed Paper Birds (1981), was included on ITM 5–08.

page 55 note 3 In between his duties as conductor with both the Iceland SO and the chamber orchestra Kammersveit, Pálsson has composed a variety of works, not least the Requiem in memoriam Jón Leifs for mixed choir a capella (1968), several works for brass ensembles including the Suite Arctica for band (1969) and, most recendy, a Concerto for orchestra (1989).

page 55 note 4 No relation of Jón: Icelanders retain the naming tradition of x son/daughter of y at one time common to many cultures, cf. the Welsh composer Denis Aplvor, the Israeli statesman David Ben-Gurion. In this respect, Jón Leifs (born Jón Thorleifsson, but given leave by the Althing to change his name) and Jón Nordal are again exceptional.

page 56 note 5 Named after the Greek mythological son of the North Wind; the piece was incorporated into a larger suite, The Kingdom of the Winds, in 1981.

page 58 note 6 By Ketting, Knud, Nordic Sounds, 06 1988 Google Scholar.

page 59 note 7 Born 1918. Represented solely on the ‘Songs from Iceland’ LP, ITM 5–07, Vidar's main contribution to Icelandic music has been with works for the ballet.

page 59 note 8 Sigurdur Thordarson also wrote A Solemn Mass for male chorus and piano, op. 20, and another Althing Cantata (op. 25, for solo voices, chorus and orchestra).

page 59 note 9 Other works include a symphonic poem, Lilja (1970), the ballet Blindman's Bluff (1981) and a Cello Concerto (1983). His Wind Quintet of 1971 is his sole recorded item (ITM 5–08).

page 60 note 10 Born in England, John A. Speight was a pupil of Buxton Orr before emigrating to Iceland in the 1970s and taking Icelandic citizenship.

page 60 note 11 Best known for his series of instrumental sonatas for various, often unusual, instrumental combinations; e.g. Sonatas IV (1972, scored for alto flute and harp), V (1973, for cello and organ), X (1974, for pairs of flutes, oboes and clarinets, bass clarinet and 3 horns), XVII (1986, horn, tuba and piano) and XX (1989, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and bassoon).

page 60 note 12 Some works have been issued on two LPs that I have not been able to trace; the wind trio Thrileikur (Trilogy, 1983) is the only available item on LP (ITM LP 5–07), while Gramm has recently released a CD of his Clarinet Concerto (1980) and several chamber works (GCD 101). Another composer who has been recorded on LP–KALP 37, which again I am unable to locate–is Karl O. Runólfsson (1900–70), a pioneer of orchestral music in Iceland. The works issued were the Overture to the play Eyvind on the mountain, and 6 Icelandic Dances (Vikivakar).

page 60 note 13 Hauksson (b. 1949) was a founder of the Nordic Electroacoustic Music organization, and lectures at Reykjavik Conservatory. His compositions include Are We?, premièred by the Ensemble InterContemporain in 1981, Ad Adtra (1983), commissioned by the Iceland SO and nominated for the 1987 Nordic Council's Music Prize, and two works derived from Prudentius: Psychomachia for soprano and cello (1988) and Sapentia for a cappella chorus (1989).

page 61 note 14 An orchestral Ljódasinfonia (Sound Symphony) was premièred during the 1991 Dark Music Days.