Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Kammersveit Reykjavíkur (Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra)
Einar G. Sveinbjörnsson, violin
Ingvar Jónasson, viola
Jón Nordal (1926-2024) was one of Iceland's most renowned 20th-century composers. For more on Nordal, see my score video of his orchestral work "Leiðsla": youtube.com/watch?v=VNmakMW9vuo
"Tvísöngur" was composed in 1979 for the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and its Icelandic concertmaster, Einar G. Sveinbjörnsson, who premiered the work with violist Ingvar Jónasson; the same soloists play on this recording. It is based on the namesake type of Icelandic folk singing derived from Gregorian chant, perhaps most famous internationally for its use by fellow Icelandic composer Jón Leifs, which often involves voice crossings and singing in parallel fifths.
In comparison to my previous uploads of Nordal's music, this piece is more sectional and arguably more texturally diverse, containing soloistic challenges and more pointillistic sections as well as the ravishing slow string passages characteristic of his symphonic poems. Nordal's treatment of the tvísöngur tradition is rather different than that of Leifs; while the fifths and voice crossings are often audible throughout the piece, they are somewhat disguised within Nordal's compositional approach until a typical example of tvísöngur emerges clearly at the very end.
Kammersveit Reykjavíkur (Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra)
Einar G. Sveinbjörnsson, violin
Ingvar Jónasson, viola
Jón Nordal (1926-2024) was one of Iceland's most renowned 20th-century composers. For more on Nordal, see my score video of his orchestral work "Leiðsla": youtube.com/watch?v=VNmakMW9vuo
"Tvísöngur" was composed in 1979 for the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and its Icelandic concertmaster, Einar G. Sveinbjörnsson, who premiered the work with violist Ingvar Jónasson; the same soloists play on this recording. It is based on the namesake type of Icelandic folk singing derived from Gregorian chant, perhaps most famous internationally for its use by fellow Icelandic composer Jón Leifs, which often involves voice crossings and singing in parallel fifths.
In comparison to my previous uploads of Nordal's music, this piece is more sectional and arguably more texturally diverse, containing soloistic challenges and more pointillistic sections as well as the ravishing slow string passages characteristic of his symphonic poems. Nordal's treatment of the tvísöngur tradition is rather different than that of Leifs; while the fifths and voice crossings are often audible throughout the piece, they are somewhat disguised within Nordal's compositional approach until a typical example of tvísöngur emerges clearly at the very end.
