Halldór Smárason - Press Kit | |
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ReviewsJanuary 17th 2020 • 5:4, USA
☉ for amplified violoncello, 12'. And just when you think this mood can’t be sustained any longer, it persists throughout the enigmatically-titled ☉ by Halldór Smárason, a three-movement study of light and darkness inspired by reflecting on a candle. The piece consists almost entirely of what we might call ‘anti-material’, as if we were hearing an implication of the music rather than the music itself. On a first encounter with the work i’ll admit to feeling somewhat frustrated, but over time i’ve become more and more entranced by its chiaroscuro, occupying a place of profound darkness into which tantalising slivers of pitched, percussive and vocal sounds gently intrude, more forcefully at its conclusion.
June 7th 2019 • Reykjavík Grapevine, Iceland
☉ for amplified violoncello, 12'. While it’s not a particularly pleasant listen, there’s a haunting effectiveness to Smarason’s highly enigmatic piece, with the percussive qualities of the cello’s form drawn out for great effect, along with chilly shards of string. To get the maximum effect, watch the masterfully weird music video.
June 2019 • MusicWeb International, UK
☉ for amplified violoncello, 12'. Living in a largely industrialised area of north-western England, one completely takes for granted the provision of artificial light and heat during the extended darkness of the winter months. Of course this is not the case in various parts of the world, many of which remain inaccessible and defiant in the face of technology. In her introduction, Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir makes the point that in Iceland, while it is ahead of the game technologically in many areas of life, some remote parts of the country still make full use of the old ways. The humble candle remains an important giver of light and heat in these places, and Halldór Smárason’s fascinating three-movement work ‘O’ explores the function and meaning of the candle. The first movement Ljós (Light) seems to absorb the sounds of human (presumably the soloist’s) breathing and blowing into its weave. The sounds are muted to start with, gradually becoming starker and brighter, the vocal ‘noises’ constituting an implied counterpoint for the cello line, such as it is, before an abrupt breath removes the flame. Minni (Memory) follows, its title a reference to the light in the darkness, to what we might see when the candle is extinguished, or when we close our eyes. This is characterised by silence, solitary pizzicato notes, scrapings, sounds which denote breathing, gestures which often occur in tandem. A mournful hint of suppressed melody features in its latter stages. The sound of a match striking triggers an extraordinary percussive sequence before the flame is once more blown out. The concluding Slokkna (‘quenched’, or more pertinently here ‘Extinguished’) requires the cellist to play a repeated note as warmly and expressively as possible (the passage in the work which most resembles a conventional ‘romantic’ cello sound), before a sequence of vocal and played pyrotechnics evokes the smoke trail of the extinguished candle. O is very fragmentary and stop-start, but Ms Thorsteinsdóttir’s characterful, absorbing playing is captivating.
May 6th 2017 • Morning Star, UK
The Humber Star for chamber ensemble and video, 14'. "The terrible cost of the bargains struck between fishermen and the sea were highlighted in The Humber Star, poet Adelle Stripe's electrifying collaboration with Halldór Smárason, which revisited her own family history. She began with epic tone-poem Beyond the Silver Pit, a forceful meditation on wrenching loss and the stoic resilience of working women. It was lent a quiet dignity by Hull poet Vicky Foster, whose vocal performance toggled between honeyed intimacy and brittle radiophonic crackle."
May 2nd 2017 • Financial Times, UK
The Humber Star for chamber ensemble and video, 14'. ""Humber Star", for example, had a fantastic depth and poignancy. A poem by Yorkshire writer Adelle Stripe, it was set to a strings and alto flute score by Reykjavík composer Halldór Smárason, and performed at Queens Hall by local poet Vicky Foster with the Sinfonia UK Collective. As the brittle, yearning 40-minute piece unfolded, accompanying visuals revealed the local Gansey jumper design that gave "Humber Star" its title; these distinct patterns would enable trawlermen's families - including Stripe's forebears - to identify relatives drowned at sea."
May 2nd 2017 • The Times, UK
The Humber Star for chamber ensemble and video, 14'. "Local poet Adelle Stripe’s highly personal Humber Star, set to a sublime chamber orchestra score by Iceland’s Halldor Smarason, drew on a quietly devastating family history of maritime tragedy."
May 1st 2017 • Browse Magazine, UK
The Humber Star for chamber ensemble and video, 14'. "[...] piece by poet Adelle Stripe and composer Halldór Smárason, performed by the UK Sinfonia with our very own Vicky Foster bringing Adelle’s words to life. Queens Hall was packed yesterday evening, as we led in the words of Russ Litten echoed down the generations. Bridging the gap between the earlier work, and the piece we were about to witness called Humber Star. Both works spanning the day, in a narrative arc that spoke of the bravery and tragedy of the men that lost their lives at sea and the women and families they left behind. I’m a city lad, I often say that I have concrete running through my veins, but yesterday I realised that isn’t necessarily true. I felt the salty brine rush through me, the music and words lashed at my face, and I felt the cold chill of my seafaring heritage in my very marrow."
April 30th 2017 • The Guardian, UK
The Humber Star for chamber ensemble and video, 14'. "Tadcaster poet Adelle Stripe’s Humber Star drew on her family history to tell a story of the devastating impact of death at sea, and the accompanying score by Halldór Smárason and Sinfonia UK really captured the cruel power of the waves."
August 28th 2016 • Seismograf, Denmark
it means what you think it means for piano trio and video, 7'. "A truly personal approach was heard in Halldór Smárason's it means what you think it means: Small, fragmentary series accompanying a television show from the 70's starring Anthony Burgess; mostly quiet, but sometimes with sound. This strange juxtaposition was so abstract that it seemed random, but in some way it managed to work perfectly with both an intriguing synthesis and comic effects."
August 3rd 2016 • Nasvhille Arts Magazine, USA
1972 - II. Game 13 for amplified chamber ensemble, electronics, chess set and video, 7'. "Smárason’s piece, written for chamber ensemble with amplified chess board, electronics, and video, seemed to convey both the events that occurred during the match as well as the tension and emotional suspense that must have resulted during the match. The overnight break, during which Fischer designed his win, is depicted in the score when the performers are directed to “stop playing chess” and “casually place rice and coins” on the amplified board. All of this external noise, perhaps an allegory to the distractions during the game itself, creates an excellent contrasting middle section to the composition. Further, the extended techniques brought off by the clarinet (Emily Tyndall) and flute (Celine Thackston) during the performance were remarkable—the kind of virtuosity we’ve come to expect of Chatterbird."
March 2nd 2016 • I Care If You Listen, USA
Pólypsar for violin and electronics, 2013/2015, 10'. "[Halldór Smárason's Pólypsar] was for amplified cello and indulged in wonderful percussive effects and vertical bowing which would generate echoes in the electronics’ delay formula."
February 19th 2016 • Þræðir, Iceland
Vegfarendur og ég for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and video, 2011/2016, 12’. "All the pieces were fun and listenable. The work Vegfarendur og ég (e. Pedestrians and I) included a video footage showing an intersection in Reykjavík. The piece is based on an older piece by Halldór that was premiered at Dark Music Days in 2012. The audience watch cars and other pedestrians either stop on red lights or continue their journey, while the sun slowly sets. This was incredibly sedative and calming.In the beginning, Elísabet read a hypnotic text that gradually changed into reflections and speculations on the hypnosis. The music was also soothing, slow and balanced, but also tensive to a certain degree, creating a little strain between the music and the video. The singer's breath and voice led the audience into the atmosphere of the video and gradually got integrated more and more into the music, as she stopped reading the text and started to participate in the instruments' texture. This was very sedative, almost lulling despite the underlying tension. It was nice to start of the festival by shaking off the everyday stress."
February 18th 2016 • I Care If You Listen, USA
Vegfarendur og ég for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and video, 2011/2016, 12’. "[...] In Halldór Smárason’s piece Vegfarendur og ég, soprano Einarsdóttir conducted col legno cello figurations and prepared piano percussives as she vacillated between bel canto and sprechstimme singing, breathing and blowing into her microphone as a CCTV video feed of a roadway intersection played. Woodwinds predominated as Margrét Árnadóttir’s walking pizzicato bassline on the cello meshed with vocal utterances of vowels and consonants, creating disparate continuities."
March 26th 2015 • Fréttablaðið, Iceland
Sætabrauðsdrengirnir, arrangements and piano performance. "[...] there was a young man sitting at the piano playing jazz. This was Halldór Smárason which many may not know. I remembered him from a concert last summer where he had two inventive and outsanding works performed, that showed his undeniable talent. Additionally, they were funny. This humor was all-around on this concert too, although Halldór's arrangements were no dissonant bizzareness. Halldór accompanied on the piano the whole concert, jazzing up [Icelandic folk songs]. [...] Like one could assume, the concert was fun. All the arrangements were made by Halldór with a few exceptions. They were lively, the vocals were tight and the jazz piano was ubiquitous. [...] On the other hand, Halldór was great on the piano. He is a magnificent jazz musician and made all kinds of skips, runs and fast chord changes look easy. And all the jokes worked perfectly, people literally rolled with laughter."
January 8th 2015 • QuietManDave, United Kingdom
it means what you think it means for piano trio and video, 7'. "Second, a new piece by Icelandic composer Halldór Smárason, ‘it means what you think it means’, inspired by his searches through the Burgess archives. Based on an American interview with Burgess, the piece again wonderfully combines spoken word with original sound – and it is an incredible range of sound that is achieved from the three instruments."
September 10th 2014 • Politiken, Denmark
Harðorðað for viola d'amore and electronics, 5'. "Three minutes into the concert and the Italian Marco Fusi had already spitted, knocked, swiped, torn and plucked his extraordinary string instrument. [...] The composer of the spits and knocks, Halldór Smárason (1989), living in New York, offered a wild etude."
August 26nd 2014 • Seismograf, Denmark
Skúlptúr 1 for guitar and electronics, 4'. "The Icelandic Halldór Smárason, who studies composition in New York, had arrived in Malmö to present his Skúlptúr 1. It is written for acoustic guitar and electronics. The electronics slide deftly between being an extension of the guitar sound, performed by Niklas Johansen, and looked to be a musical autonomous entity controlled by Halldór Smarason, like an invisible gamemaster-wizard. It seems "old school"-modernist-cool after Wainwright's low-tech cigar box; and it's great."
August 21st 2014 • Bachtrack, United Kingdom
_a_at_na for chamber ensemble, 2014, 7'. "The last of the new pieces, _a_at_na by Haldor Smarason, proved something of a frustration. The piece for four violins, viola, cello, clarinet, prepared piano and tape was really rather mystifying. To a large extent it consisted of long, low, drawn-out phrases with no apparent direction. Coupled with this were a series of projected images that seemed to have no connection to the music, making for a decidedly puzzling experience."
July 22nd 2014 • Fréttablaðið, Iceland
1972 - I. Fyrir for solo percussion, electronics and chess, >2'. "I won't forget this concert for a while. If not only for the opening piece. That was called 1972, written by Halldór Smárason. The title refers to the World Chess Championship just over forty years ago. In the piece, two men stood at a table and played chess. Microphones had been placed at the chess table, that so it was clearly audible when the pieces were moved. The ticking chess clock was also clearly delivered; when they pressed the buttons it was heard as a loud noise coming from the speakers. Various events were interpreted with very short percussion playing and when a piece was captured a note was invariably played on a keyboard. The result was pleasantly exotic, the amplified clock tick was haunting. It was steady and calm; in perfect contrast with the tension in the chess, which grew increasingly more tangible. As a piece of music, it was cool." Pólypsar for violin and electronics, 10'. "Another composition by Halldór Smárason, Pólypsar, was also great. It was written for amplified violin, performed by Una Sveinbjarnardóttir. For the longest time, Una swiped the bow up and down the strings, and made the violin crackle. She also breathed heavily. The violin playing sounded like an asthma patient having a bad attack. Toward the end the dyspnea transformed into a gorgeous singing. Una's performance was world-class; she even delivered such a calm piece of music with focused enthusiasm which is so characteristic for her. This was an amazing experience."
January 8th 2013 • Fréttablaðið, Iceland
Grunnavík for oboe quartet, performance by Caput "...fine composition by Halldór Smárason called Grunnavík. It was written for oboe and string trio. The music was profound."
March 8th 2011 • Fréttablaðið, Iceland
Eflaust for piano trio, premiere by Reykjavík's Trio "His music was cool; it was based on haunting ideas that developed pleasantly. They went through exciting transformations and faced unexpected fate, which were still rational. The drama behind the title was reflected in a convincing structure, alarming at times. Halldór is clearly a promising composer."
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InterviewsFebruary 8th 2020 • Fréttablaðið, Iceland
October 2016 • List á Vestfjörðum, Iceland
August 24th 2015 • Fréttablaðið, Iceland
March 18th 2015 • Fréttablaðið, Iceland
March 17th 2015 • Segðu mér (Rás 1/RÚV), Iceland
January 18th 2012 • Morgunblaðið, Iceland
July 20th 2012 • Morgunblaðið, Iceland
July 7th 2011 • Bæjarins Besta, Iceland
June 18th 2009 • Bæjarins Besta, Iceland
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