JÓN LEIFS (1899–1968)

 

Edda, Part 1 - The Creation of the World (Sköpun heimsins): Oratorio

 

(World Première Recording)

 

Gunnar Guðbjörnsson (tenor), Bjarni Thor Kristinsson (bass-baritone)

Schola Cantorum, Iceland Symphony Orchestra / Hermann Bäumer

 

Jón Leifs’s homeland of Iceland, its music and myths, its landscape and climate has always influenced his compositional career, providing the material for almost all of his compositions. And from the very beginning Leifs knew that he wanted to create a great oratorio using texts from the Edda, Iceland's national treasure.

 

The music of Edda I was finally completed in 1939, and, largely due to the highly difficult choral writing, the work was never performed in its entirety during Leifs’ lifetime. Indeed the first complete performance only took place in 2006, in conjunction with the recording of the present disc.

 

Edda I consists of thirteen movements, each of which describes part of the creation according to Nordic mythology. As the headings of the individual movements suggest – Sea, Earth, Heaven, Sun, etc. – Leifs’ main concern is the depiction of nature. He achieves this in music which carries the hallmarks of the Leifs style, such as a liberal use of parallel fifths and irregular metric patterns.

 

This landmark in Icelandic music is performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Schola Cantorum choir under the baton of Hermann Bäumer – a constellation that last came together on disc on the highly acclaimed Viking’s Answer, the previous Leifs release on BIS.

 

BIS SACD BISSACD1350