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Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Jón Leifs - Hafís and other works for voices and orchestra (Anne Manson)


Information

Composer: Jón Leifs
  1. Hafís (Drift Ice), Op. 63
  2. Tveir söngvar, Op. 14a: 1. Máninn Líður (Moon Song)
  3. Tveir söngvar, Op. 14a: 2. Vögguvísa (Lullaby)
  4. Gudrúnarkvida (The Lay of Gudrun), Op. 22
  5. Nótt (Night), Op. 59
  6. Fine I (Farewell to Earthly Life), Op. 55
  7. Vögguvísa (Lullaby), Op. 14a No. 2

Ingveldur Ýr Jónsdottir, mezzo-soprano (2-4, 7)
Gunnar Gudbjörnsson, tenor (4, 5)
Loftur Erlingsson, bass (4)
Ólafur Kjartan Sigurdarson, baritone (5)

Schola Cantorum (1)
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Anne Manson, conductor

Date: 2000
Label: BIS
http://bis.se/composer/leifs-jon/leifs-hafis

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

Jón Leifs’ music tends to extremes: of volume, ensemble size, harmony, and rhythm. As such, people either love it or hate it. I love it. True, it’s a comparatively hermetic, or “closed” style, with a limited range of expressive devices. Harmonic motion follows the parallel fourths and fifths of Icelandic folk music, and rhythms are slow moving but relentlessly asymmetrical. Still, no one expresses the primal qualities of nature better, and this disc perfectly illustrates the fact that Leifs could achieve a wide emotional range by drawing selectively on the various tools in his musical storehouse.

The principal work here is Hafís (Drift Ice), the fourth in a series of vast tone poems illustrating the more violent natural forces shaping the craggy terrain of Iceland. The others in the series, all of which have been recorded for BIS, are Hekla (the volcano), Geysír (which depicts exactly what you think it does; the English word comes from the Icelandic), and Dettifoss (a huge waterfall). All four employ large orchestral forces, and three (the exception is Geysír) ask for a chorus as well. Leifs pulls out all the stops in these pieces, asking for massive percussion in Hekla (20-plus players including pistol shots, cannon, sirens, chains, and steel plates), and in Hafís, a huge ratchet to simulate the sound of cracking ice. The music is thrilling, the choral writing all but impossible yet very effective, the slow crescendos to those huge climaxes unforgettable, and if you haven’t heard these works, you’re missing something very special.

At the opposite extreme from Hafís lie the two songs: short settings of evocative poems by Jóhann Jónsson the last of which, “Lullabye”, has such an extraordinary, haunting simplicity that it’s programmed on the disc twice, once in tandem with its companion, “Moon Song”, and once at the very end. Both The Lay of Guthrun and Nótt (Night) are basically concert arias or cantatas for soloists and orchestra, neither impractically scored, which would make an interesting change of pace in any symphony program. Fine I was conceived, along with Fine II, as a possible conclusion to Leifs’ monumental oratorio Edda III in the event he did not live to complete this last work in a projected trilogy. In the event, he did die with the work unfinished, and the two “Fine” pieces have since acquired a life of their own among the composer’s more attractive short works. Fine I begins with a bang and works its way back up to an angry, fist-shaking ending, all in about three and a half minutes.

I had the good fortune to attend the concert at which this music was performed, an occasion commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 1899. It was a moving and extraordinary event, especially when you consider the fact that many of Leifs’ works had never been played, including several of these. American conductor Anne Manson led a clearly energized Iceland Symphony Orchestra in spectacular performances of the larger scores, and while not all of the vocal soloists made an equally strong impression, they delivered the sense and spirit of the text as only native singers can. Happily, the electricity of that occasion has carried over to this excellent recording, which boasts stunning recorded sound to boot. If you don’t yet know Leifs, here’s a perfect place to start.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/Jan01/leifs.htm
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/leifs-works-for-solo-voices-and-orchestra

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Jón Leifs (1 May 1899 – 30 July 1968), was an Icelandic composer, pianist, and conductor. Born in Iceland, he left for Germany in 1916 to study at the Leipzig Conservatory and graduated in 1921. During this period he also studied composition with Ferruccio Busoni. Beginning with piano arrangements of Icelandic folk songs, Leifs started an active career as a composer in the 1920s. In 1945 he moved back to Iceland, and became a fierce proponent of music education and of artists' rights. Most of his works is inspired by Icelandic natural phenomena and classic Icelandic sagas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3n_Leifs

***

Anne Manson (born 1961, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) is an American orchestral and opera conductor. Manson studied pre-med at Harvard University before switching to study music on full scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London. She was conductor of London's Mecklenburgh Opera from 1988 to 1996, then served as an assistant to Claudio Abbado. Manson was music director of the Kansas City Symphony from 1999 until 2003, and is currently music director of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. In 1994, she became the first woman to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival.

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