VALGEIR SIGURÐSSON
CATALOGUE OF WORKS ‘One listens to the album and feels they’ve lived a few more lifetimes, having voyaged Sigurðsson’s terrain of despair and hope and history and anticipation and wonder.’ DROWNED IN SOUND (ERIN LYNDAL MARTIN), 8 MAY 2017
VALGEIR SIGURÐSSON
Abbreviations WOODWIND picc piccolo fl flute afl alto flute bfl bass flute ob oboe bob bass oboe ca cor anglais acl alto clarinet Ebcl clarinet (Eb) cl clarinet bcl bass clarinet cbcl contra bass clarinet bsn bassoon cbsn contra bassoon ssax soprano saxophone asax alto saxophone tsax tenor saxophone bsax baritone saxophone
Valgeir Sigurðsson (b.1971) is an Icelandic composer and producer. As much as he could be described as a speculative post-minimalist with a challenging post-punk sensibility and a fascination with glitch and improvisation, conventionally an acoustic classical musician with deep, working knowledge of the astonishing sonic potential of electronics and an unabashed love for the beauty and brains of weird pop, Valgeir Sigurðsson is an inspired, industrious maker of a spectacular northern music, of an uncanny soul music, a fiendish, visceral folk music. As the editorial and curatorial edge of the Bedroom Community label he founded in 2006, his work with the likes of Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Paul Corley, Sam Amidon and Daníel Bjarnason features a constantly evolving appreciation of the diversity of music in the world. Three previous solo albums, Ekvílibríum (2007), Draumalandið (2010) and Architecture of Loss (2013) were followed in 2017 by the intensely reflective Dissonance. It was with Draumalandið (Dreamland) that he began to develop music for the concert platform, with live versions of that score performed numerous times now, by the likes of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Other ‘classical’ commissions have included Nebraska Quartet (Lincoln Center’s Ecstatic Music Festival, 2011), Architecture of Loss (originally commissioned as a ballet by Stephen Petronio in 2012), Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Five (a 13-minute symphony for large orchestra and electronics, commissioned and premiered in 2014 by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra), Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists (an evening-length music-theatre piece for three singers and small ensemble with electronics, Reykjavik Arts Festival 2014 and winner of Music Theatre Now award in 2015), No Nights Dark Enough (a 30-minute work for chamber orchestra & electronics, premiered by the City of London Sinfonia at the 2014 Spitalfields Festival), and Veej (for large ensemble, premiered by Alarm Will Sound). Elsewhere, with an enterprising understanding of where forward-looking, genre-liquefying modern music is moving, his collaborations have included Björk, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Feist, Damon Albarn, CocoRosie, Sigur Rós, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Brian Eno, Tim Hecker, Anohni, Oneohtrix Point Never and Alarm Will Sound. This series of prolific personal and professional connections with others has helped him conceive an intelligent, private modern way of producing music that elegantly compresses centuries of patient technique and refinement plus decades of innovative electronic experimentation and post-pop progress into one place. As adept at working in electronic and studio settings, and generating evocative soundtracks for film or composing orchestral and chamber pieces, his work for theatre, dance and installations demonstrates how Sigurðsson thinks like a painter and sculptor as much as sound artist and musician. In all of his projects, he bends and blends familiar sounds to expose the new within the known, through care and an ear for esoteric, eclectic sonic experimentation. His aural oeuvre and collaborative contributions collide organic with synthetic, acoustic with digital, connection with isolation, and domestic with ethereal – resulting in a body of work ripe with emotion, curiosity, and humanity. Paul Morley, 2017 - adapted
BRASS hn horn fl.hn flugel horn ptpt piccolo trumpet (Bb) tpt trumpet trbn trombone btrbn bass trombone scrt soprano cornet crts cornets rcrt repiano cornet btuba bass tuba euph euphonium bar baritone PERCUSSION ant.cym antique cymbals BD bass drum c.bell cow bell cast castanets ch.bl chinese block chic.cym chic cymbal ch.dr chinese drum chtpl.bl chinese temple block chimes wooden chimes chi.ba chime bars crot crotales cyms pair of cymbals glsp glockenspiel mcas maracas mar marimba met.bl metal block mil.glsp military glockenspiel riv.cym rivit cymbal SD side drum siz.cym sizzle cymbal susp.cym suspended cymbal t.bells tubular bells t.mil tambour militaire tab tabor tam t tam tam tamb tambourine TD tenor drum tgl triangle timb timbales tpl.bl temple blocks vib vibraphone wdbl wood block xyl xylophone xylrim xylorimba STRINGS vln violin vla viola vlc cello db bass KEYBOARDS pno piano cel celesta synth synthesizer OTHERS gtr guitar bgtr bass guitar All other instrument names are given in full.
STAGE WORKS Architecture of Loss (2012)
ballet for chamber ensemble of 3 players and electronics
30 minutes pno(=BD + tape) – vla.electric bass(=synth/waterphone/shaker/BD) FP: 6.3.2012, The Joyce Theater, New York, NY, USA: Stephen Petronio Company/Valgeir Sigurðsson/Nadia Sirota/Shahzad Ismaily/ch. Stephen Petronio Commissioned by the Stephen Petronio Company Score and parts available for hire
Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists (2014)
music theatre piece for 3 singers, 4 musicians and electronics
Architecture of Loss ‘Petronio’s stage work was inspired by the cycle of formation and disintegration and Sigurðsson’s music never loses sight of that sense of duality. The album seemingly charts the emergence of a being (or perhaps civilization itself) from a void of nothingness through moment of intense trial and turbulation to collapse back to innocence before an ultimate return to the ether. Even divorced from its visual accompaniment, Architecture of Loss offers a powerful and philosophically driven narrative at once sublime and disconcerting.’
WQXR FM (Hannis Brown), 24 September 2012
‘The music [...] can sound chill and eerie: there’s singing, echoing, rasping, crackling. At times, the piano emits single, spaced-out notes that sound like water dripping resoundingly on ice in a momentary thaw…’
Arts Journal, 21 June 2012
Wide Slumber for Lepidopterists
70 minutes Text: a. rawlings (Eng) viola da gamba – organ(=keyboards) – perc – electronics FP: 24.5.2014, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Tjarnarbíó Theatre, Reykjavik, Iceland: Sasha Siem/Alexi Murdoch/ Ásgerður Júníusdóttir Score and parts available for hire
Extremalism (2015) ballet for electronics
40 minutes FP: 12.6.2015, Koninklijk Theater Carré, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Le Ballet National de Marseille & ICK Amsterdam, ch. Emio Greco & Pieter C Scholten Commissioned by Le Ballet National de Marseille Electronics available for hire. See also For Love of Her (do but kill me) in Chamber
INCIDENTAL MUSIC Zwei Ühr Nachts (2015)
Schauspiel Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, dir. Falk Richter
The Herbal Bed (2016)
English Touring Theatre, UK tour, dir. James Dacre
Medea (2018)
Reykjavík City Theatre, Reykjavik, Iceland, dir. Harpa Arnardóttir
‘The staging was extremely successful and lighting and video design fantastic [...] the music was well composed, some of the best I’ve heard from Valgeir [...] outstanding entertainment, a true feast for eyes and ears, a performance I cannot stop thinking about and long to see again and again…’
Morgunblaðið, Á.M, May 2014)
‘A great and magnificent weaving takes place onstage… extremely well done, both by singers, musicians and composer…’
Víðsjá, Þ.E.S, May 2014
‘Sigurðsson’s music was entrancing and hypnotic… the singing was fantastic and the accompanying live music no less… Berger’s set was elaborate and unusual… Einarsdóttir’s costumes beautiful and exciting… These groups (VaVaVoom & Bedroom Community) are practically able to conjure wizardry, as one witnessed repeatedly…’
TMM, S.A, May 2014
Extremalism ‘…a tantalizing combination of quality and originality…’
De Volkskrant, 15 June 2015
Green Aria: A Scent Opera ‘A breakthrough of sorts took place on Sunday night at the Guggenheim Museum. This beguiling work was the result of a two-year collaboration initiated by the writer and director Stewart Matthew with the composers Nico Muhly and Valgeir Sigurðsson and, critically, the French perfumer Christophe Laudamiel, who has created fragrances for Ralph Lauren, Estée Lauder and other companies. The eclectic music was episodic yet subtly flowing, with skittish flights; contrapuntal passages where duelling voices were pushed to wide extremes of register; steely electronic agitation; and calming harmonic writing for dusky, sustained strings.’
The New York Times (Anthony Tommasini), 1 June 2009
‘What’s clear is that an elegant scent technology in the hands of truly creative people can deliver an original, and beautiful, sensory performance that enlivens the mind as well as the senses.’ First Nerve (Avery Gilbert), 3 June 2009
Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Five ‘Sigurðsson’s atmospheric, textural score creates a sense of place, with muted trumpets evoking foghorns and shimmering, closely woven strings depicting the barren landscape. Horn players blowing air through their instruments effectively suggested windstorms across sea ice. It’s one you’d like to hear again; it rings with organic truth deriving from ancestral bonds between composer and content. It also received a standing ovation.’
Winnipeg Free Press (Holly Harris), 31 January 2014
‘Pitched as a reflection on an historic Icelandic settlement in Canada, it’s foremost an acoustic piece. And the composer’s ability to craft a journeying instrumental narrative is never in doubt. After a jarring beginning, it explores moods of unease – eventually closing in a hushed, chilling fashion.’
Pitchfork (Seth Colter Walls), 25 April 2017
ORCHESTRA Green Aria: A Scent Opera
co-written with Nico Muhly – chamber orchestra and electronics
13 minutes picc.4.2 afl.0.1.bcl.0 – 0010 – perc(3): mar/2 vib/glsp – pno – cel – harp – strings FP: 31.5.2009, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, USA: dir. Stewart Matthew Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum (NY) Score and parts for hire
Dreamland (2011)
large orchestra and electronics (with optional film)
32 minutes 3(III=picc+afl).2.ca.3(III=bcl).3(III=cbsn) – 4331 – perc(4): xyl/mar/t.bells/glsp/2 BD/tom-t/tam-t/hi-hat/shaker/ TD/high wdbl/large metal kitchen-bowl with small bells – harp – pno(=cel) – tape (in ‘Grýlukvæði’, ‘Nowhere Land’ and ‘Cold Ground, Hot’) – strings FP: 13.10.2011, Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland: Iceland Symphony Orchestra/Daníel Bjarnason Originally composed for the film Draumalandið (2010), directed by Andri Snær Magnason and Þorfinnur Guðnaso. Arranged for orchestra by Valgeir Sigurðsson and Petter Ekman. Score and parts for hire
version for chamber orchestra and optional electronics
33 minutes 1(=picc+afl).1(=ca).1(=bcl).1(=cbsn) – 1120 – perc(1): mar/vib/glsp/BD/tam-t/shaker/TD/large metal kitchen bowl with small bells – harp – pno(=cel) – tape (in ‘Grýlukvæði’, ‘Nowhere Land’ and ‘Cold Ground, Hot’) – strings (65442) FP: 4.6.2013, Muzikgebouw, Eindhoven, Netherlands: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ilan Volkov Originally composed for the film Draumalandið (2010), directed by Andri Snær Magnason and Þorfinnur Guðnaso. Arranged for chamber orchestra by Valgeir Sigurðsson and Petter Ekman. Score and parts for hire
Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Five (2013) orchestra and electronics
13 minutes 2222 – 4.3.2.btrbn.1 – timp – perc(2): BD/anvil/crot/t.bells/xyl – harp – pno – strings – electronics FP: 29.1.2014, Winnipeg New Music Festival, Winnipeg, MB, Canada: Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra/Alexander Mickelthwate Commissioned by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland and the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba Score and parts for hire
No Nights Dark Enough (2014) chamber orchestra and electronics
30 minutes 1(=picc).1(=ca).1(=bcl).1 – 1111 – pno – harp – strings (55442) – electronics FP: 17.6.2014, Spitalfields Festival, Village Underground, London, UK: City of London Sinfonia/Hugh Brunt Commissioned by Spitalfields Music, November Music and Dark Music Days, with support from Spitalfields Music’s New Music Commission Fund and The Eduard van Beinum Foundation Score and parts for hire
ENSEMBLE Past Tundra (2011)
chamber ensemble of 9 players, with electronics
5 minutes fl.cl(=bcl) – trbn – pno – perc(1): mar/TD/BD – vln.vla.vlc.db FP: 29.11.2013, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland: Crash Ensemble/Alan Pierson This version of Past Tundra was written for Crash Ensemble. The original version of Past Tundra forms part of the composer’s soundtrack to the film, Draumalandið (Dreamland) (2009). It also features in the subsequent orchestral suites taken from the film score. Score and parts for hire
Ghosts (2013)
chamber ensemble of 10 players, with electronics
8 minutes fl.cl(=bcl) – trbn – pno – perc(1): mar/TD/ BD – electric gtr – vln.vla.vlc.db FP: 29.11.2013, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland: Crash Ensemble/Alan Pierson Commissioned by Crash Ensemble (with funding from the Icelandic Composer Fund) Score and parts for hire
The Crumbling – from ‘Architecture of Loss’ (2014) chamber ensemble of 6 players
5 minutes pno – 2 vln.vla.vlc.db FP: 17.6.2014, Village Underground, London, UK: City of London Sinfonia/Hugh Brunt Score and parts for hire
Veej (2015)
chamber ensemble of 18 players 6 minutes fl.ca.2 cl.bsn(=toy pno) – trbn – perc(5/6)*: crot*/inside pno*/log drums (optional)/vib/BD/mar – pno – 2 vln.vla. vlc.db *crotales and inside piano parts can be performed by any other available musicians, not necessarily trained percussionists FP: 28.5.2015, The Sheldon, St Louis, MO, USA: Alarm Will Sound/Alan Pierson Commissioned with funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for premiere performance by Alarm Will Sound Score and parts for hire
For Love of Her (do but kill me) – from ‘Extremalism’ (2015) solo voice, chamber ensemble of 10 players, and electronics
6 minutes cl – perc(1): mar – pno – org – bass viol – 2vln.vla.vlc.db FP: 17.10.2015, BBC Radio 3, United Kingdom: Liam Byrne/Valgeir Sigurðsson/Nadia Sirota/Puzzle Muteson/ James McVinnie/Chris Thompson/Borgar Magnason Score, parts and electronics for hire
CHAMBER Nebraska (2011) string quartet
11 minutes FP: 19.1.2011, Ecstatic Music Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY, USA: Chiara String Quartet Commissioned by the Kaufman Center for Performance at Merkin Concert Hall Score and parts for hire
Architecture of Loss (2012)
ballet for chamber ensemble of 3 players and electronics
30 minutes pno (=BD+tape) – vla.electric bass (= synth/waterphone/shaker/BD) FP: 6.3.2012, The Joyce Theater, New York, NY, USA: Stephen Petronio Company/ch. Stephen Petronio/Valgeir Sigurðsson/Nadia Sirota/Shahzad Ismaily Commissioned by the Stephen Petronio Company Score and parts for hire
Raindamage (2014)
string trio and electronics
5 minutes Commissioned by Nordic Affect, with funds from Reykjavik Arts Festival and Musica Nova composition fund Score and parts for hire
No Nights Dark Enough ‘The title references English Renaissance composer John Dowland’s iconic Flow, My Tears. Valgeir does honor to the source material; this Dowlandinfluenced music is still suffused with sorrow. But the sudden, downward-sliding tones in the first movement (“flow”) have a savagery that feels beholden to no past. The second movement (“infamy sings”) sets some fastrepeating piano lines against drawn-out brass and string exclamations, and the contrast feels like some elegantly shouted objection in the face of trauma. The glitchier third section (“fear and grief and pain”) treads on some production grounds Trent Reznor might recognize. This emerging sense of a bummedout lineage – from Dowland to The Fragile to Valgeir – makes a strange, perfect form of sense.’
Pitchfork (Seth Colter Walls), 25 April 2017
‘No Nights Dark Enough with its complicated rhythms and abrupt changes, was a menacing cousin of the Dowland work – Mexican waves of brass sound and a mechanical sound close to that of hydraulics, produced by blowing air and speaking through brass instruments, merged with watery effects from the electronics.’
Planet Hugill (Hilary Glover), 24 June 2014
Dissonance ‘The title track is a deconstruction of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19 where Sigurðsson takes a snapshot of composition and expands that blip into a 20-minute musical epic. Dissonance, like the album as a whole, pits genuine orchestral composition against subtle electronic treatments. The notes are often in stark opposition to each other, painting a bleak landscape of uneasiness and restlessness. Those moments are juxtaposed when the score unifies to create brief but powerful feelings of hope. In the end, Dissonance captures perfectly what it means to be human. There is no pause here, no motif or catchy hook, just a continuous layering of elements that are either ethereal or disconcerting, unified or dissonant.’
The Line of Best Fit (Slavko Bucifal), 27 May 2017
Dreamland ‘This is a project that does not shy away from a pop music sound, but enriches it with eclectic additions, sound nuances and experiments; the music blends the organic with the synthetic and the acoustic with the digital…’
Robert Piaskowski, FMF
‘Best known for his masterful production work for the likes of Björk and Will Oldham, here Sigurðsson has composed the soundtrack to a sobering documentary about the exploitation of Iceland’s natural resources. Beautiful and compelling, Muhly artfully conducts the small orchestra through understated moments of expansive beauty, gentle piano and subtle strings that swoon and surge into an ominous force, made all the stronger by the electronic wizardry of Ben Frost, whose crackly textures on ‘Nowhere Land’ and ‘Helter Smelter’ add to the underlying sense of unease. Sigurðsson hasn’t just created an accompaniment to a film, but an incredible album in its own right.’
NME (Tessa Harris), 16 April 2010
‘Divested of the enviro-politic moving picture of the same name, this ceases to be a soundtrack and transcends even the status of an album, because everything about this collection of feelings, emotions and resonant creative constructions is pretty much immaculate. The arrangements and performances are outstanding as is the production, with strings to the fore and, most importantly, strings used properly. The glissandic nature of ‘Laxness’, or the glockenspiel/accordion counterpoint of ‘Draumaland’, to pick just two examples, are testimony that here is a piece of work made by, for, and with a rare blend of deep love and understanding both of thematic trails and the human experience. And, of course, it is testament to life’s beautifully delicate paradoxical nature that such imperviously wonderful classicism can be borne from such a prickly and contentious subject. Taken simply as a record, this album’s relatively short-form explorations comprise excerpts from a wider soundtrack – the music of the spheres.’
Grapevine (Joe Shooman), 2 September 2010
INSTRUMENTAL Ancor che col partiere – after Cipriano de Rore (2013) viola da gamba and electronics
4 minutes FP: 24.9.2015, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London, UK: Liam Byrne/Valgeir Sigurðsson
Dissonance – after WA Mozart (2014) viola da gamba and electronics
23 minutes FP: 29.3.2015, Conzertzaal, Theaters Tilburg, Netherlands: Liam Byrne/Valgeir Sigurðsson
I Call To You – after JS Bach (2014) viola da gamba and electronics
9 minutes FP: 29.3.2015, Conzertzaal, Theaters Tilburg, Netherlands: Liam Byrne/Valgeir Sigurðsson
Antigravity (2016) violin and electronics
Playing score and electronics for hire
Dust (2018)
violin and electronics
15 minutes FP: 2018: Daniel Pioro Playing score and electronics in preparation
ELECTRONIC Antigravity (2016) 5 minutes Written for Nordic Affect Electronic files for hire
FILM & TV CREDITS Dramarama (2002)
Zik Zak Filmworks Producers: Skúli Fr. Malmquist and Þórir Snær Sigurjónsson
Drawing Restraint 9 (2005) Director: Matthew Barney
Mannaveiðar (2008)
Reykjavik Films Director/Producer: Björn Br. Björnsson
Draumalandið (Dreamland) (2009)
Ground Control Productions Directors: Þorfinnur Guðnason | Andri Snær Magnason Producer: Sigurður Gísli Pálmason ‘We wanted to grasp huge issues in this documentary, we travelled around the country in a helicopter, searched in new archives, observed the birds fight for their offspring. We captured footage of politicians and representatives of larger corporations during “mating season”. But how would it all sound? What leitmotifs would bring the chapters of the film together, what feeling would the music evoke? What resonates with a Caterpillar digger, a private jet and flying over a beautiful, doomed landscape? It was clear that the music needed to span vast territory… without making the audience feel manipulated, tension needed to be created to underline, to accent, to enhance or temper the film’s effect in the appropriate places.’
Andri Snær Magnason 2009
Hvellur (2013)
Director: Grímur Hákonarson
The Pages (2018) CorradoMooncoin Director: Joe Chappelle
DISCOGRAPHY
Dissonance
Ekvílibríum
Scent Opera
Samuli Kosminen/Una Sveinbjarnardóttir/Jónína Auður Hilmarsdóttir/Hrafnkell Orri Egilsson/ Valgeir Sigurðsson/Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy/Nico Muhly/ Guy Sigsworth/ Ólöf Arnalds/Samuli Kosminen/ Will Oldham/J. Walker/Royce Doherty/Ólafur Björn Ólafsson/Berglind María Tómasdóttir/Snorri Heimisson/ Samuli Kosminen/Dawn McCarthy/Warren Ellis/ Stefán Jón Bernarðsson/Óskar Guðjónsson/Hildur Ingveldardóttir Guðnadóttir Bedroom Community, HVALUR3CD (2007)
(composed by Nico Muhly & Valgeir Sigurðsson) Various artists Bedroom Community, HVALREKI EP (2016)
Dissonance
Draumalandið (Dreamland)
‘Dissonance embodies, almost by definition, the idea of things falling apart, a feeling of unrest, of issues unresolved, of disagreement. Sigurðsson offers that and more over the course of three symphonic works that are by turns dense and bleak yet magisterial… Sigurðsson applies his engineer credentials… to the way he composes, and how he meticulously records the Reykjavik Sinfonia. He divides the orchestra up section by section – even instrument by instrument – and records the parts separately; then, like a jigsaw puzzle, puts it all back together in the studio. With this technique, one could argue Sigurðsson actually conquers the unresolved unrest of dissonance. By harnessing complete control over his soundworld (like Goya did in oils with his disturbing “Black Paintings“), Sigurðsson possesses the power to wield darkness into a singularly mesmerizing art.’ NPR Music (Tom Huzienga), 25 April 2017
Dissonance – after WA Mozart; No Nights Dark Enough; Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-Five
Various artists Bedroom Community, HVALUR8CD (2010)
Architecture of Loss
Shahzad Ismaily/Nadia Sirota/Nico Muhly/Valgeir Sigurðsson/Helgi Hrafn Jónsson Bedroom Community, HVALUR 13CD (2012)
Liam Byrne (viola da gamba)/Valgeir Sigurðsson (electronics)/Reykjavik Sinfonia Bedroom Community, HVALUR 28LP (2017)
‘Here, on his third full-length record, Sigurðsson is able to dive deep into the human psyche and pull on our heart strings. Dissonance builds and releases tension in such a way that a single note is able to tear you apart before bringing resolution back to your senses. Listen closely and it’s obvious this is the work of an artist who manipulates sound and expression with cerebral precision.’
The Line of Best Fit (Slavko Bucifal), 27 May 2017
HEAD OFFICE Faber Music Ltd Bloomsbury House 74–77 Great Russell St London WC1B 3DA fabermusic.com Tim Brooke Head of Repertoire Development +44 (0) 20 7908 5336 musicfornow@fabermusic.com
Sales & Hire FM Distribution Burnt Mill Elizabeth Way Harlow, Essex CM20 2HX Sales: +44(0)1279 82 89 82 sales@fabermusic.com Hire: +44(0)1279 82 89 07/8 hire@fabermusic.com
USA & CANADA Hire Schott Music Corporation & European American Music Dist. Co. 254 West 31st Street, 15th Floor New York, NY 10001, USA Promotion: (212) 4616940 Rental: (212) 4616940 rental@eamdc.com
Sales Alfred Music Publishing Co. Customer Service P.O. Box 10003 Van Nuys CA 91410-0003, USA Tel: +1 (818) 891-5999 sales@alfred.com
‘Except for his production and engineering work with Björk and many others, Valgeir Sigurðsson is best-known for founding the influential Bedroom Community label, a lightning rod at the juncture where the ambition of classical music meets the aesthetics of indie music – though it’s reckless to breezily dispense with the purview of a label that launched the recording careers of people as individually diverse (yet collectively related) as Ben Frost, Nico Muhly, and Sam Amidon. All of the label’s different strands gather in Sigurðsson’s music, which can be sweepingly neo-romantic and sweetened with folk melodies à la Bartók while remaining alert to the possibilities of microtonality, mechanization, and minimalism.’
Pitchfork (Brian Howe), 28 September 2012
‘Sigurðsson has created a masterpiece with his latest effort, Dissonance’
The Line of Best Fit (Slavco Bucifal), 27 May 2017
‘Dissonance is a masterful piece of work.’
Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC Radio 6), 9 March 2017
‘By harnessing complete control over his soundworld, Sigurðsson possesses the power to wield darkness into a singularly mesmerizing art.’
National Public Radio (Tom Huizenga), 13 April 2017
‘Sigurðsson creates an evocative, vividly picturesque narrative.’
San Francisco Classical Voice (Allan Kozinn), 9 June 2017
‘Dissonance confirms Sigurðsson as one of contemporary music’s most gifted and innovative composers.’
Fractured Air, 29 March 2017
‘…in hovering, otherworldly electronic tones and reverberations; it was as if a classical heritage was being perceived from some distant perspective, like our own.’
New York Times Live Review; Sónar 2017: 15 of the Best Sets From the Barcelona Music Festival (Jon Pareles), 18 June 2017
COVER IMAGE © LILJA BIRGISDOTTIR; WIDE SLUMBER IMAGE © VAVAVOOM THEATRE AND BEDROOM COMMUNITY; BACK IMAGE © MAGNUS ANDERSEN
fabermusic.com