Can you hear a country in its music? Does Venice echo in Gabrielli’s buoyant antiphonies? Can you glimpse Bohemia in the lyrical effusions of Dvorak and Smetana? Does the United States of America sound like Copland’s heartland or Ellington’s Harlem?
Like Peter Garland’s desert, or John Luther Adams’s tundra? There can be no definitive answer; every traveler usually brings personal baggage. I reckon that I do sense Iceland’s mutable skies and rugged terrain in the slow-moving luminosity of Thorvaldsdottir’s Dreaming.
Likewise, the static/chaotic duality in Daníel Bjarnason’s shivering, rumbling Emergence evokes awesome powers coalescing in some act of primal creation. Thurídur Jónsdóttir’s Flow and Fusion, with its seamless blend of acoustic and electronic sounds, conjures the ineffable chiaroscuro of Iceland’s sky.
Daníel Bjarnason, Conductor
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 01:07:30
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | DSL92213 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | Bjarnason, Jonsdottir, Sigfusdottir, Thorvaldsdottir, Vilmarsson |
| Genres | |
| Digital Converters | Horus |
| Mastering Engineer | Daniel Shores |
| Conductors | |
| Instruments | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Producer | Dan Merceruio |
| Recording Engineer | Daniel Shores |
| Recording location | Harpa Concert Hall, Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Recording Software | Merging |
| Recording Type & Bit Rate | DXD |
| Release Date | April 14, 2017 |
Press reviews
A Fool in the Forest
“Listening Listfully 2017”
BBC Culture
BBC Culture’s “Best Albums of 2017”
Iceland is in the middle of a classical renaissance, with Jóhann Jóhannsson composing some of the most thrilling film scores in years including Sicario and Arrival. And this collection of composers shows just how much more talent the island nation has to offer.
A Closer Listen
“A sense of wonder develops when one realizes one is listening to one of the year’s best albums. This takes a while to solidify. First impressions are hard to trust. By the tenth play or so, it hardens. While I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve played Recurrence, I’ve retained that sense of wonder.
Not that this should come as any surprise, as Recurrence has been one of the most anticipated albums ever since its announcement in November. Recurrence highlights Daniel Bjarnason at the helm of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducting pieces from Anna Thorvaldsdottir, amiina’s Maria Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir, Thuridur Jónsdóttir, Hlynur Aðils Vilmarsson and himself.
The album operates as a showcase for the entire nation of Iceland. A gauntlet thrown down to the global music community. Despite its many authors, the set flows perfectly as a whole, a credit to Bjarnason’s conducting skills as well as to the skills of the orchestra. While listening, one yearns for a musical Olympics where all national orchestras might compete, each performing new music from their homelands.”
Musicweb International
“The native composers showcased in this, the first volume of the ‘ISO Project’, are all new to me, but a preliminary listen certainly piqued my interest.
The sound worlds here will surely appeal to those who know and like the music of Iceland’s best-known composer, Jón Leifs (Geysir especially), and the Dane Anders Hillborg. The acoustic/electronic glissandi and crescendi of composer/flautist Thurídur Jónsdóttir’s Flow and Fusion are discreetly thrilling, and the work’s finely calibrated shapes and sonorities are very impressive. And if that suggests something generic, prepare for a pleasant surprise. Jónsdottir doesn’t overwork her material, and that’s always a good sign. As for the fine recording – engineered by Dan Merceruio and Daniel Shores – it enhances what is already an engrossing aural experience.
Quietly spectacular scores, beautifully played and recorded; a most desirable issue.”
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