Icelandic contemporary music has come into focus in recent years, with composers such as Anna Thorvaldsdóttir and Academy Award-winner Hildur Guðnadóttir drawing the world’s attention towards this country’s rich musical culture. With this recording, Duo Concordia shines the spotlight on a number of other Icelandic trailblazers, including Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson, the first Icelandic composer to introduce electronics into his scores.

Tryggvi M. Baldvinsson has been nominated for the Icelandic Music Award 2020, and was commissioned by the duo to write a Sonata, a work that ranges from avant garde techniques to ethereal sonorities. Hilmar Thorðarson is a pioneer of electronic techniques, but also draws upon ancient Norse sources for inspiration, as in Gefjun, composed for Duo Concordia and taking its name from a Norse goddess of fertility. Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson composed Vapp for Duo Concordia, a timeless, pastoral piece emulating birds delicately scurrying across the ground.

The release also features music by English composer John A. Speight, a student of Richard Rodney Bennett. We hear Samtvinna, composed for the duo in 2013, and Speight’s retelling of the Orpheus myth, the haunting and colourful solo guitar piece Echoes of Orpheus, premiered by Páll Eyjólfsson soon after it was composed.

Duo Concordia is made up of Icelandic musicians Laufey Sigurðardóttir (violin) and Páll Eyjólfsson (guitar), who have performed together for years, establishing an appealing rapport both with one another and with the composers with whom they regularly collaborate.