Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
00:08 I. Bernska (Childhood)
07:02 II. Æska (Youth)
14:42 III. Sálumessa, Eilifð (Requiem, Eternity)
Performed by the string quartet of the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra (Kammersveit Reykjavíkur)
Jón Leifs (1899-1968) was an Icelandic composer, the most famous from his country in the 20th century. For more about Leifs, see the description in my score video of his "Reminiscence du Nord" for string orchestra: youtube.com/watch?v=XVdalbh6CWM
"Vita et mors", completed in 1951, is the second of Leifs' three string quartets, the title (meaning "Life and death") being inverted from the first. Like his first string quartet, it is a highly personal work tinged with tragedy, being one of four compositions (including his Requiem) written after his younger daughter Líf tragically drowned off the coast of Sweden at the age of 17. Although understandably bleak in character, it nevertheless contains moments of brightness, innocence, and even lyricism - the latter of which is not so often seen in Leifs' oeuvre. The third movement opens with a paraphrase of his choral Requiem, written the year before he began this quartet, and subsequently often returns to similar themes.
As with the first quartet, you can hear a longer (and likely bleaker) rendition by the Yggdrasil Quartet here: youtube.com/watch?v=myKWQ_MxzDw&list=OLAK5uy_ldQbL1K-oGT9zU_R5JArTNT-RYMeapV-Q&index=2
00:08 I. Bernska (Childhood)
07:02 II. Æska (Youth)
14:42 III. Sálumessa, Eilifð (Requiem, Eternity)
Performed by the string quartet of the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra (Kammersveit Reykjavíkur)
Jón Leifs (1899-1968) was an Icelandic composer, the most famous from his country in the 20th century. For more about Leifs, see the description in my score video of his "Reminiscence du Nord" for string orchestra: youtube.com/watch?v=XVdalbh6CWM
"Vita et mors", completed in 1951, is the second of Leifs' three string quartets, the title (meaning "Life and death") being inverted from the first. Like his first string quartet, it is a highly personal work tinged with tragedy, being one of four compositions (including his Requiem) written after his younger daughter Líf tragically drowned off the coast of Sweden at the age of 17. Although understandably bleak in character, it nevertheless contains moments of brightness, innocence, and even lyricism - the latter of which is not so often seen in Leifs' oeuvre. The third movement opens with a paraphrase of his choral Requiem, written the year before he began this quartet, and subsequently often returns to similar themes.
As with the first quartet, you can hear a longer (and likely bleaker) rendition by the Yggdrasil Quartet here: youtube.com/watch?v=myKWQ_MxzDw&list=OLAK5uy_ldQbL1K-oGT9zU_R5JArTNT-RYMeapV-Q&index=2
