05.06.2012

Vinderen af Nordisk Råds Musikpris 2012

Den islandske komponist Anna Thorvaldsdóttir har modtaget Nordisk Råds Musikpris med værket Dreaming.

Dommerkommiteen udtaler: "Dreaming opens the sphere of the symphony orchestra in an unusual and innovative way. The beginning and end of the work flow freely without time signature, creating a cyclic understanding of time invoking superstition and symbolism of nature that can be found in Nordic mythology. The music behaves like a shifting landscape, bringing an experience of chronological time to halt - like in dreams. In the old Norse sagas dreams allow humans to enter into dialogue with nature. In dreams, other languages and other senses are valid. Dreams connect night and day, light and darkness, and it is in the vision of dreams that people learn about death. The music in Dreaming is sensual and calm, but it can also surprise and be powerful and brutal. With Dreaming Anna Thorvaldsdóttir has written herself into a contemporary Nordic orchestra tradition which derives its timbres both from electronic music and from the sounds of nature inherent in Nordic folk music. The tones are carefully depicted - almost like small pieces of embroidery. But the work is perhaps particularly unique by the way it achieves to build and unfold a large form within a sound world that apparently stands still. This work comes closer with every listening, and it makes you curious for more".

Fra Danmark var Else Marie Pade nomineret med værket Illustrationer I-IV og Jacob Kirkegaards værk 4 Rooms.

Læs mere på Nordisk Råds Musikpris' hjemmeside.

playlist

11.09.2023

My name is John Grant – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music has been a healing balm for me.«

John William Grant is an American singer, musician, and songwriter holding both American and Icelandic citizenship. He first came to prominence as a co-founder, lead vocalist, pianist, and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band The Czars. After releasing six albums between 1994 and 2006, the band disbanded, and Grant withdrew from music for four years before embarking on a solo career.

He returned in April 2010 with a critically acclaimed debut album recorded in collaboration with Midlake. Queen of Denmark was named Album of the Year 2010 by Mojo magazine and was also selected as one of the ten best albums of 2010 by The Guardian’s music critics and writers.

playlist

13.06.2023

My name is Allan Gravgaard Madsen – would you like to see my playlist?

»In his music, composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen tries to create a better version of himself.«

Allan Gravgaard Madsen is a Danish composer based in Copenhagen. His most recent works include Träume nicht and Nachtmusik. He tries to create a better version of himself in his music – where his personality tends to be restless, chatty and has an active inner life, his music is controlled, simple and merciless in its expression. He is the recipient of the Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Hæderspris 2022.

in briefrelease

23.01.2022

Finnish Space Travel

Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«

Vauva, 02.12

Kristoffer Møllegaard

The Finnish multimedia artist Jan Anderzén has, with the album Hoshi, released under the solo moniker Tomutonttu, created a true little star. Not only because »hoshi« literally means »star« in Japanese, but above all due to the music itself. There is something cosmic, yet infinitely minute, about the sonic worlds Anderzén conjures—like a galaxy reflected in a puddle, or a space journey in a rocket carved from a hollow tree trunk. Synths emit busy, warm blips and bloops, while ultra-short vocal and instrumental samples create a recognizable blur. At once artificial and organic – soft, rounded, jagged, crackling.

Anderzén approaches sound with a playfulness I simply adore. His music is strange in an incredibly comforting way. It places me in a kind of colorful, trance-like state, only interrupted when, several times over the course of the album, I find myself smiling in delight at a particularly great sound. The synths on »Katse osuu sähköön!« The choral samples on »Kesä oli äkkiä ohi!« Milo Linnovaara’s flute on »Malta lausua ‘AH’!« And many more. Hoshi is an album packed with microscopic moments that together form a frayed, exploding, radiant, idiosyncratic whole—a stellar moment of just under 38 minutes.