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Flute Concerto (1997) 18 minutes.
First performance: Reykjavík 2000, Áshildur Haraldsdóttir flute, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Diego Masson.
Instrumentation: 2.3.3(III also b.cl).3(III also c.bsn).-4.3.3.1-perc(4)-solo flute-pft-hrp-strings.
The Flute Concerto was composed in Amsterdam during 1996-97. It consists of eleven dissimilar sections, each one with its own musical pattern. The flute part is individualistic, zigzagging its way through the same material that the orchestra plays in a more sustained manner. A few instruments are amplified to adjust balance and in an attempt to create new sounds from the orchestra. The flute can be said to travel in a soundscape of the orchestra, charaterized by both mystical and mechanical fields. The concerto was composed for flutist Áshildur Haraldsdóttir.
Score (pdf) (beginning)
Violin Concerto (see Works for Ensemble)
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Flute Concerto no. 2 (2001) 21 minutes.
First performance: Reykjavik 2003, Sharon Bezaly, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov.
Instrumentation: 3.3.2.3(III also c.bsn).-0.3.3.1-perc(3)-solo flute-pft-hrp-strings (no double basses).
Flute Concerto no. 2 was composed in 2001. It consists of five movements with somber, slow movements outnumbering faster ones. The same musical ideas pop up in all movements so one could speak of a variation form. The concerto is dedicated to Sharon Bezaly, who gave the first performance in 2003 with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
Score (pdf) (first movement)
From the Heavens Fall the Fair Bright Stars - Concerto for oboe and orchestra (2007) 19 minutes.
Instrumentation: 3 (III also piccolo).2.2.2(II also c.bsn.)-2.2.2.0-perc(3)-solo oboe-pno-hrp-strings.
Composed for Helen Jahren.
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Skíma - Concerto for two double basses and orchestra (2002) 17 minutes.
First performance: Reykjavik 2004, Hávardur Tryggvason and Valur Pálsson double basses, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Susanna Mälkki.
Instrumentation: 3.3.3.0.-0.3.3.0.-perc(3)-hrp-2 solo Db-strings (no double basses).
Skíma (a faint gleam of light) has two movements. Tenebroso, a dark and somber movement where the double basses alternately play descending lines and aggressive deep sul pont. notes. And Animato, faster and lighter movement where the music is dominated by ascending figures and bright colors. The piece was slightly revised in 2004 for the BIS recording.
Score (pdf) (beginning)
Piano Concerto - Everything Has Changed. Nothing Has Changed. (2009) 25 minutes.
First performance: Reykjavík 2010, Víkingur Ólafsson, Caput Ensemble, Snorri Sigfús Birgisson.
Instrumentation: 2.1.2.0-2.2.2.0-perc(2)-solo pno-strings(4.1.2.1.)
or
2.1.1.1-1.1.1.0-perc(2)-solo pno-2.1.1.1.
Sudden motion and stillness are juxtaposed throughout the first movement. The same thematic material is developed into many shapes and colours, from neurotic tension to a fragile and impressionistic finesse. The movement is bound together by several long arches of mounting tension, which find complete release only at the very end.
The second movement begins with complete stillness, not unrelated to Bartok's night music moods. Deserted murmurs are heard from the solo winds and brass and, as with the rest of the introverted episodes of this concerto, any mood of calmness is always in the context of serious underlying tension. The feeling that the unexpected might happen at any given moment never leaves the listener, and surely enough the hidden threats in the night reveal themselves as the movement progresses.
The final movement is the shortest of the three and begins with primitive material of great rhythmic resistance, before releasing into a vibrant joie de vivre dance. Towards the end there are reminiscent flashes of material from the two earlier movements in a striking piano cadenza before a tumultuous coda leaves the listener with unsolved questions and tension that still hovers in the air as the final sounds come to a close. Nothing has changed after all, yet things are not the same.
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