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Anna Thorvaldsdottir

  • CD/Digital releases

    Iceland Symphony Orchestra – Atmospheriques Vol. I

    by 5:4 September 9, 2023 • 06:00
    September 9, 2023 • 06:00

    Two years have passed since the Iceland Symphony Orchestra’s previous series of albums, Recurrence, Concurrence, Occurrence, and their latest release, Atmospheriques Vol. I, is the start of a new series. As before, the orchestra is conducted by Daníel Bjarnasson, and the emphasis is again on Icelandic composers, though here they’re …

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  • CommentFestivalsPremières

    Proms 2022: the premières – how you voted

    by 5:4 September 24, 2022 • 10:19
    September 24, 2022 • 10:19

    It’s been a little over two weeks since the BBC bafflingly decided, rather than to channel the Last Night of the Proms (the UK’s most shamelessly jingoistic occasion) into an evening both celebrating the life and commemorating the death of the Queen, that they would instead simply pull the plug. …

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  • Premières

    Proms 2022: Anna Thorvaldsdottir – ARCHORA (World Première)

    by 5:4 August 13, 2022 • 05:00
    August 13, 2022 • 05:00

    The relationship between Anna Thorvaldsdottir‘s music and nature has always been, to put it mildly, complicated. Far from being a composer merely setting out (as far too many have claimed far too often) to evoke the wildness of her native Iceland, Thorvaldsdottir has tended to be much more concerned with …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Berglind María Tómasdóttir – Ethereality

    by 5:4 October 12, 2021 • 10:58
    October 12, 2021 • 10:58

    The other recent release of Icelandic music that i’ve been spending time with lately is Ethereality, by flautist Berglind María Tómasdóttir (whose Icelandic Flute Music album i explored at the start of the year). When writing about Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Enigma i commented on the way the distinction between the different …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Anna Thorvaldsdottir – Enigma

    by 5:4 October 11, 2021 • 14:23
    October 11, 2021 • 14:23

    i’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately with two interesting recent releases of Icelandic music. The first is a short album (an EP really) featuring a string quartet by Anna Thorvaldsdottir titled Enigma. The first thing that struck me, long before actually listening to the music, is that it’s …

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  • CD/Digital releasesFree musicThematic series

    Berglind Tómasdóttir – Icelandic Flute Music

    by 5:4 January 28, 2021 • 05:00
    January 28, 2021 • 05:00

    For the last two years, in the final week of January i’ve been heading off to Iceland for the annual Dark Music Days festival. Like pretty much all festivals at the moment, DMD has been postponed for a few months, but as a small consolation i’m going to conclude this …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Anna Thorvaldsdottir – Rhízōma

    by 5:4 November 3, 2020 • 11:44
    November 3, 2020 • 11:44

    Something that comes up a lot in my writing about music is polarities. Perhaps it’s understandable; many composers strive to establish some kind of drama in their work, which often involves the juxtaposition and/or interplay of polarised types of material or behaviour. A lot of the satisfaction and enjoyment from …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Various – Epicycle II

    by 5:4 August 27, 2020 • 14:08
    August 27, 2020 • 14:08

    Released tomorrow is a new album of eight works by Icelandic composers, all of which have been curated by – and in some cases created in collaboration with – cellist and vocalist Gyða Valtýsdóttir. The general tone of these works, all of which are quite brief, is meditative in nature, …

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  • Mixtapes

    The Isolation Mixtapes : A

    by 5:4 April 6, 2020 • 08:55
    April 6, 2020 • 08:55

    Due to the ongoing battle against COVID-19, many of us throughout the world are currently experiencing various states of lockdown and isolation. That’s not a situation that looks like it’s going to change significantly for the foreseeable future, so today i’m beginning a new weekly series of mixtapes on 5:4 …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir – Vernacular; Siggi String Quartet – South of the Circle; Iceland Symphony Orchestra – Concurrence

    by 5:4 January 17, 2020 • 11:17
    January 17, 2020 • 11:17

    In just over a week’s time Iceland’s premier new music festival, the Dark Music Days, will be up and running again, and once again i’ll be heading off to Reykjavík to immerse myself in some of the goings-on. Details about the festival can be found here, and for any UK …

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Nordic Music Days 2019 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 November 21, 2019 • 06:00
    November 21, 2019 • 06:00

    Being the host nation, music from Norway was especially well-represented at this year’s Nordic Music Days in Bodø. Harnessing the large and impressive organ of Bodø Cathedral, Trond Kverno‘s Triptychon 2 was one of the fieriest things i heard at the festival. We tend to think of toccatas as fast-flowing, …

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  • ConcertsFestivals

    Summartónar 2019 (Part 2)

    by 5:4 August 12, 2019 • 15:56
    August 12, 2019 • 15:56

    As i previously remarked, one of the most (and one of the only) disappointing things about my first experience of the Faroe Islands’ Summartónar festival was the almost complete lack of music by Faroese composers. The inclusion of Kristian Blak – artistic director of the festival – mitigated that to …

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  • FestivalsPremières

    Proms 2019: Anna Thorvaldsdottir – Metacosmos (UK Première)

    by 5:4 July 29, 2019 • 17:10
    July 29, 2019 • 17:10

    Performed last Monday by an orchestra combining students from the Royal Academy of Music and the Juilliard School, conducted by Edward Gardner, Anna Thorvaldsdottir‘s Metacosmos is a work i know quite well. Anna and i discussed it at length during our Dialogue together, and i explored the piece further following …

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  • InterviewsThe Dialogues

    The Dialogues: Anna Thorvaldsdottir

    by 5:4 April 27, 2019 • 11:49
    April 27, 2019 • 11:49

    i’m excited to present a new instalment in my series The Dialogues. On this occasion, i’m in conversation with Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, whose music has become increasingly well-known in recent years. In the UK, her work has started to appear with more frequency on concert programmes, and there’s a …

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Dark Music Days 2019: Sound Mass; Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra

    by 5:4 February 9, 2019 • 15:11
    February 9, 2019 • 15:11

    The final day of Iceland’s 2019 Dark Music Days festival was characterised by a back-and-forth between prosaic and profound. The penultimate concert i attended, titled ‘Sound Mass’, was an extreme case in point. Once again located in Harpa’s Kaldalón Hall, of the three works performed it was hard to do …

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  • ConcertsFestivalsPremières

    Dark Music Days 2019: Iceland Symphony Orchestra; Yrkja

    by 5:4 February 7, 2019 • 13:41
    February 7, 2019 • 13:41

    Judging from the way it’s usually discussed, you’d be forgiven for thinking that – overwhelmingly inspired by the country’s uniquely dramatic combination of earth, water, ice and fire – Icelandic music was all about, and only about, nature. It’s therefore interesting, in hindsight, to note that it wasn’t until the sixth …

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  • Best of the YearMixtapes

    Mixtape #53 : Best Albums of 2018

    by 5:4 January 1, 2019 • 10:26
    January 1, 2019 • 10:26

    Happy New Year everyone! Many thanks to all of you who have read, followed, commented, shared, promoted and otherwise supported the blog during the previous year, most especially to my beloved band of Patrons. i’m starting 2019 in the usual way, with a new mixtape featuring something from each of the …

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  • Best of the Year

    Best Albums of 2018 (Part 1)

    by 5:4 December 30, 2018 • 00:00
    December 30, 2018 • 00:00

    Right, let’s cut to the chase: forget all those other narrow, limited, parochial and partisan Best Albums lists, here’s the only list you need: my round-up of the 40 albums that have charmed, enthralled, awed and amazed me the most during 2018. In case anyone was in any doubt, it’s …

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  • Mixtapes

    Mixtape #43 : International Women’s Day

    by 5:4 March 8, 2018 • 00:00
    March 8, 2018 • 00:00

    As today is International Women’s Day, for my March mixtape i’ve allowed myself to indulge in a celebration of fabulous music by women composers and musicians. Compared to most of my mixtapes, this was one of the more difficult to create, for two reasons. First, because the shortlist of music …

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  • CD/Digital releases

    New (Nordic) releases: Vilde&Inga, Nordic Affect, Trio Aristos, Iceland Symphony Orchestra

    by 5:4 June 5, 2017 • 13:16
    June 5, 2017 • 13:16

    There’s been a number of very interesting new releases recently featuring composers and performers from the Nordic countries. At the most unconventional end of the spectrum are violinist Vilde Sandve Alnæs and double bassist Inga Margrete Aas, a Norwegian duo who perform free-improvised music together as Vilde&Inga. Their new album Silfr, released …

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5:4
  • About
    • Other writings
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  • The Lists
    • Listening History
    • Complete List of Ratings
    • Compositions explored on 5:4
    • Albums and EPs reviewed on 5:4
    • Festivals reviewed on 5:4
    • Best Albums of the Years
    • The Proms premières – Poll results
  • The Dialogues
  • Mixtapes
    • Mixtapes
    • The Isolation Mixtapes
    • Mystery Mixtapes
    • Podcasts
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