Daníel Bjarnason News
Icelandic composer
- Iceland
- composer
social networks
Last update
2024-03-26
Refresh
2023-09-18 03:30:00
Jóhann Jóhannsson: A Prayer to the Dynamo (CD Review)
by Karl NehringA Prayer to the Dynamo; The Theory of Everything – Suite; Sicario – Suite. Paul Corley, electronics production and electronics; Skúli Sverisson, guitar; Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Bjarnason. Deutsche Grammophon 486 4870The late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969-2018) is perhaps best known for his film scores such as those for the movies Sicario and Arrival. His compositions often combine elements of classical, electronic, and ambient music to great effect. Among his other attributes, Jóhannsson had a remarkable gift for writing music conveying an atmosphere of that is deeply contemplative and inward-focused – serious, but somehow neither morose nor depressing. Those dimensions of his music take on a special poignancy in light of his tragically short life. He died at 48 in Berlin, the German autopsy report indicating that the likely cause of death was a fatal conjunction of cocaine and flu medication. On the surface, that might strike some readers as an indication of a character […]
2021-08-06 06:28:30
A little miracle: Grimeborn Festival opens with Wagner's Die Walküre at Hackney Empire
Wagner: Die Walküre - Finnur Bjarnason, Mark StoneArcola Theatre's Grimeborn Festival at Hackney Empire (Photo Alex Brenner) Wagner Die Walküre; Mark Stone, Laure Meloy, Natasha Jouhl, Finnur Bjarnason, Harriet Williams, Simon Wilding, Julia Burbach, Orpheus Sinfonia, Peter Selwyn; Grimeborn Festival at the Hackney Empire Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 4 August 2021 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★) Grimeborn returns to The Ring with superb panache in a deep exploration of a family in crisisThat Arcola Theatre's Grimeborn Festival has been able to open this year with the continuation of its Ring Cycle is nothing short of miraculous. On 4 August 2021, Julia Burbach [see my interview with Julia] returned to direct Wagner's Die Walküre for the Grimeborn Festival, not at the Arcola Theatre but in the grander (and larger) Hackney Empire, with Mark Stone as Wotan, Laure Meloy as Brünnhilde, Finnur Bjarnason as Siegmund, Natasha Jouhl as Sieglinde, […]
2021-07-20 00:00:00
Sibelius: Tone Poems, Lemminkainen and Karelia Suites (Petri Sakari)
Jean Sibelius: Tone Poems 01. Pohjola's Daughter, op.49 [14'01]02. The Oceanides, op.73 [10'18]03. Tapiola, op.112 [18'43]04. En saga, op.9 [18'54]05. The Bard, op.64 [8'07]Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Petri SakariNaxos 8.555299 [recorded June 2000; CD released 2002][CD-rip; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans]01. Finlandia, op.26 * [8'06]02. - 03. Karelia Suite, op.11 * [15'57]05. - 08. Lemminkainen Suite, op.22 * [48'36] Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Petri SakariNaxos 8.554265 [recorded May & November 1997; CD released 1999][CD-rip; flacs, booklet, cover and inlay scans] Recording venue: University Hall, Reykjavik, IcelandRecording engineers: Simon Eadon and Bjarni Bjarnason, Thorir Steigrimsson & Vigfus Ingvarsson *; Producers: Chris Hazell and Paul Myers * As a follow up to my post last year of the Sibelius symphonies with Petri Sakari and the Iceland Symphony, here are two discs worth of the Tone Poems in equally fine performances. Sakari's pacing is spot-on throughout and the dark orchestral colours […]
2021-05-27 05:20:00
Recent Releases, No. 8 (CD Mini-reviews)
[…] for an appealing musical experience. The final piece on this CD, Moonburst (2018), is more successful, evoking as it does a sense of darkness and apprehension. At times, the sound seemed to more than a hint of an edge in the upper midrange; as it turned out, a quick check of the back cover credits revealed an engineering team whose names I did not recognize. I shall be wary should I encounter them again. Occurrence: Daniel Bjarnason: Violin Concerto; Veronique Vaka: Lendh; Haukur Tómasson: in Seventh Heaven; Puriòur Jónsdóttir: Flutter; Magnús Blöndal Jóhansson: Adagio. Sono Luminus DSL-92243. Pekka Kuusisto, violin; Mario Caroli, flute; Daniel Bjarnason, Iceland Symphony Orchestra. SONO Luminus DSL-92243.This is not just a mini-review, it is a mixed review, for I believe that I would not stand alone in finding the five compositions on this release to be quite a mixed bag in terms of their appeal, even as […]
or
- timeline: Composers (Europe).
- Indexes (by alphabetical order): B...