Hafliði Hallgrímsson

Hafliði Hallgrímsson (born September 18, 1941 in Akureyri ) is an Icelandic composer and cellist .

Life

Hafliði Hallgrímsson played the harmonium , violoncello and flute from an early age . In 1958 he began studying cello at the Music School in Reykjavík , he from 1962 to 1963 at the Romer Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia continues resulted. A brief engagement with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra was followed by further cello studies at the London Royal Academy of Music from 1964 to 1966. He then took up private composition studies with Elisabeth Lutyens , Peter Maxwell Davies and Alan Bush . Hallgrímsson played solo and in various British orchestras, such as B. in the English Chamber Orchestra , of which he was a member from 1968 to 1972. In 1977 he moved to Edinburgh and became the first cellist in the Scottish National Orchestra , which he left again in 1983 in order to concentrate more on composing.

In 1984 Hallgrímsson wrote Poemi , with which he won the Nordic Council Music Prize, among other things . Various commissioned compositions for various orchestras and institutions followed, including Ríma (1993) for the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra for performance at the 1994 Winter Olympics and Ombra (1999) for Icelandic radio . Since 2008 he has been composer in residence with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra.

music

Hallgrímsson's œuvre in 2014 comprised a total of 107 works, 49 of which have an opus number . These include, in particular, compositions for smaller ensembles, but also choral, solo and orchestral works. He puts a focus on music for string instruments. Musical influences arise from his experience in performing new music on the one hand and from composers such as Claude Debussy , Alban Berg and Witold Lutosławski on the other. Painting and poetry serve as further sources of inspiration. B. Poemi to pictures by Marc Chagall .

The high virtuosity and difficult playability of his pieces can be described as characteristic of Hallgrímsson's style. His music is often described as expressive and cantable, at the same time as eerie and paradoxical. The compositional means used by Hallgrímsson include a wide variety of techniques, e.g. B. Elements of minimal music and sound surface composition , tonal echoes and twelve-tone technique , but also, as shown in Poemi or Ríma , micropolyphony and limited aleatoric .

Works (selection)

• Solitaire for violoncello solo op.1 (1969)
• Strönd for harpsichord (1982, rev. 1988)
• Poemi for violin and string orchestra op.7 (1984)
• Daydreams in Numbers for string orchestra (from 1986)
• Four Icelandic Folk Songs for Mixed Choir (1988)
• The Flight of Icarus for flute solo op.12 (1991)
• Ríma for soprano and string orchestra op.15 (1993)
• Herma . Concerto for violoncello and string orchestra op.17 (1995)
• Crucifixion for large orchestra op.24 (1997)
• Ombra for viola and string orchestra op.27 (1999)
• The Force of Incidents , Opera op.29 (2003)
• Norðurdjúp for large orchestra op.43 (2009)

Awards

• 1966 Madame Suggia Prize
• 1985 2nd prize at the International Wieniawski Competition for Poemi
• 1986 Icelandic Culture Prize of the newspapers Dagblaðið and Vísir for Poemi
• 1986 Music Prize of the Nordic Council for Poemi

literature

• Michael Hillenstedt: Haflidi Hallgrímsson . In: Hanns-Werner Heister , Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer (ed.): Contemporary composers . edition text + kritik, Munich, ISBN 978-3-86916-164-8 .

Web links

• Homepage of Hafliði Hallgrímsson

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of works on the composer's homepage , accessed on October 3, 2015.

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .