An album of fascinating Icelandic scores, many of them written especially for Duo Concordia. Tryggvi M. Baldvinsson has been nominated for the Icelandic Music Award 2020, and was commissioned by the duo to write a Sonatina, a work that ranges from avant garde techniques to ethereal sonorities. Hilmar Thórdarson is a pioneer of electronic techniques, but also draws upon ancient Norse sources for inspiration, as in Gefjun, composed for Duo Concordia and taking its name from a Norse goddess of fertility. Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson composed Vapp for Duo Concordia, a timeless, pastoral piece emulating birds delicately scurrying across the ground. The release also features music by English composer John A. Speight, a student of Richard Rodney Bennett. We hear Samtvinna, composed for the duo in 2013, and Speight’s retelling of the Opheus myth, the haunting and colourful solo guitar piece Echoes of Orpheus, premiered by Páll Eyjólfsson soon after it was composed.
