ErkiTíð 2021 will be held on Sunday, November 14th at the Reykjavík Art Museum - Hafnarhús. The festival will feature performances and premieres of thirty pieces from various periods of Icelandic electronic music history.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of one of the first and most well-known electronic works in Icelandic history, "Samstirni" by Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson from 1961, there will be a special program about his work and pioneering work in the field of electronic music in Iceland.
The ErkiTíð music festival is a platform for creativity and expression in music using new technology and opens a vision into the future, with a strong focus on the works of pioneers of Icelandic computer and electronic music.
ErkiTíð has always placed the greatest emphasis on Icelandic electronic music and innovation in that field. It was first held in 1994 on the occasion of the Republic Day of Iceland, where all the major electronic and computer compositions by Icelandic composers from the beginning were performed.
Over the years, dozens of new Icelandic compositions have been composed and premiered for ErkiTíðar.
This year's festival has commissioned new works from four female composers, the subject matter of which will be related to the works of this pioneer of electronic music in Iceland.
Kjartan Ólafsson, artistic director
November 14
November 14
November 14
November 14
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Reykjavik Art Museum / Reykjavik Art Museum
Electronic concert with works by Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson
The Electric Company (1960)
Atmos Electrical Works (1982)
Electronic Studio Electrical Works (1959)
Surtur goes south Rafverk (1964)
14:00 - 15:00
Reykjavik Art Museum / Reykjavik Art Museum
Analog raftónverk í gegnum tíðina
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Lárus Halldór Grímsson: Bragðlaukar - Rafverk + slagverk
Slagverk / Percussion: Steef van Oosterhout
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Karólína Eíríksdóttir: Adagio (1994)
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Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson: Ættir (2003) - Rafverk
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Þorsteinn Hauksson: Bells of Earth (1994) - Rafverk + slagverk
Slagverk / Percussion: Steef van Oosterhout
15:00 - 16:00
Reykjavik Art Museum / Reykjavik Art Museum
Digital electronic music through the ages
Ríkharður H. Friðriksson: Spirits (1991) - Electric instruments + clarinet
Clarinet / Clarinet Guðni Franzson
Ingibjörg Friðriksdóttir: Endurómur (2020) - Audio and visual works Commissioned by ErkiTíð
Kjartan Ólafsson: Folk Songs from the Future (2021)
- Sleeping fluff is long and thin
- Lives are good, but they are broken.
Lýdia Grétarsdóttir: Sleepless (2013) - Rafverk
Haraldur V. Sveinbjörnsson: Ariel I (2005) - Rafverk
Hilmar Þórðarson: TEPHRA (2021)
Electric works + clarinet. Premiere
Clarinet: Guðni Franzson
16:00 - 17:00
Reykjavik Art Museum / Reykjavik Art Museum
Premieres: New works commissioned by ErkiTíð 2021
All pieces are inspired in some way by the music of Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson.
Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir and Karólína Eiríksdóttir: Blending (2021)
The work is based on sounds from Elektrónískur Stúdí by Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson. Six sounds were taken from the work and worked with. All sounds heard in the work have been changed from the original form, but not excessively. The goal was to honor the spirit of Magnús and the 1950s.
Sól Ey: 16 384 impulses / 512 seconds (2021)
The frequency of changes in individual signals appears to us with associated perceptual consequences. Repeated sound signals can be perceived both as individual events or as a coherent tone, depending on the rate of repetition of the signals. Light flickers can change from being momentary and with obvious intervals to appearing with a full and continuous spectrum, yet both are caused by the same light. In this work, the experience of such changes becomes the main subject of the work; where do the boundaries of our perception of individual events and a continuous whole lie?
Þóranna Björnsdóttir: Fingers Ears and Heart#2 (2021)
Fingers Ears and Heart is a series of works that are mostly based on material that is processed and shaped with a Buchla modular synthesizer. I spent a month at EMS, Elektronmusikstudion, in Stockholm, where I had access to the instrument, played it and recorded the material. The instrument has seemingly infinite possibilities for creating sounds, and so a lot of work went into listening to how the slightest turn of a knob affected the nuances of the tone and how the various cables and connections opened up new combinations. The work with the instrument took place in a kind of pipeline, and after spending all this time turning knobs and listening, I began to wonder what had been going on in my subconscious during that time. Were there some kind of secrets simmering underneath? What emotions were created? Or was there no room for that while I was shaping a new sound world, with the technology in my fingers?
In Fingers Ears and Heart #2 I address these reflections, where singing, roaring and enveloping waves of sound are interwoven with more everyday sounds, original and altered, and my voice. The result is a weave that resembles in many ways the rich studies and compositions of Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson, which were based on electronic sounds, voices and instrumental sounds (both in their original and altered versions).
17:00 - 18:00
Reykjavik Art Museum / Reykjavik Art Museum
Concert with works by Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson
Adagio for percussion, celesta and strings.
Performer: Sigursveinn Music School String Ensemble
Conductor: Helga Þórarinsdóttir
Sonorities I, II and III
Piano: Tinna Thorsteinsdottir
Songs by Magnus Blöndal
- Crumbly Verses (1953)
- Lullaby (1951)
- I Light My Candles (1989)
- The Country Between the Sands (1964)
Soprano: Hallveig Rúnarsdóttir
Piano: Árni Heimir Ingólfsson
Magnus Blondal Johannsson
Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson studied at the Juilliard School of Music in New York from 1947 to 1954. He was a music critic for the newspaper Vísi from 1954 to 1957, a pianist and assistant choirmaster at the National Theatre from 1956 to 1961, and an employee of the music department of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Corporation from 1955 to 1972. Magnús left behind nearly a hundred works, including songs, film music, theatre music, orchestral and chamber music. At first, he composed mainly songs and also occasional instrumental works, but around 1950 he began to experiment with 20th-century compositional techniques.
Magnús may have been the first Icelander to compose in Schoenberg's abstract twelve-tone style, 4 Abstract Views from 1950. He was also the first in Iceland to compose electronic music with his work Elektrónísk stúdía from 1959. Among Magnús's best-known works in the field of film music is his music for Ósvaldur Knudsen's film Surtur fer sunnen and his song of the same name from the film Sveitin milli sanda.
ErkiTíð 2021 is held in collaboration with the Reykjavík Art Museum, ITM - Icelandic Music Centre and Sigursveinn Music School.
With support from the Stefs Composers' Fund and RÚV.
ErkiTíð 2021 is supported by the Music Fund of the Ministry of Culture and Business and the Reykjavík Culture, Sports and Tourism Council.