Una Sveinbjarnardóttir & Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir: Last Song
Sono Luminus

Perpetuating Sono Luminus's focus on Icelandic composers and artists, Last Song features a cross-section of pieces performed by violinist Una Sveinbjarnardóttir and pianist Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir. Yet while Sveinbjarnardóttir is a founding member of Iceland's Siggi String Quartet and concertmaster of the Reykjavik Chamber Orchestra, the album is less a formal set of contemporary classical works than a collection of plaintive folk duets marked by nostalgia and longing. Of course Last Song encompasses a variety of moods and styles, but the pieces, differences aside, collectively express a melancholy ache. Consistent with the faded photos of small-town life on the release package, the music more evokes the image of local musicians playing at a village pub than formally clad virtuosos performing on a concert hall stage. The music is, stated otherwise, intimate and suffused with humanity.

The piece by Sveinbjarnardóttir from which the album derives its title, “Last Song before the News,” likewise conveys the spirit of the project. On Icelandic radio Rás 1, a song is played just before the news at noon, the piece typically short, melodically memorable, and stylistically a lullaby, traditional, love song, or ode to nature; its tone can even sometimes be darker, as exemplified by the violinist's own composition. Joining it on the release are pieces by two other female Icelandic composers, Jórunn Viðar and Karólína Eiríksdóttir, plus ones by Magnús Blöndal Jóhannsson, the violinist's late duo partner Atli Heimir Sveinsson, Louis Couperin, Hildegard von Bingen, Ole Bull, Monteverdi, Gluck, and Massenet. Most are in the one- to three-minute range, with only two nudging past four, and all works are stand-alone statements except for two, the three-part work by Sveinsson and five-movement suite by Viðar.

Among those with whom Sveinbjarnardóttir has worked are Björk, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Pierre Boulez, Krzysztof Penderecki, Heinz Holliger, and Helmut Lachenmann. Þorsteinsdóttir likewise brings a wealth of experience to the project, as she works regularly with Icelandic artists and is active in the country's experimental music scene. While some of the composers on Last Song are still alive (Eiríksdóttir) or recently deceased (Viðar, Sveinsson, Jóhannsson), others lived long ago, including Couperin (1727-89), Gluck (1714-87), Monteverdi (1567-1643), and von Bingen (1098-1179). Temporal distance is a non-factor, however, when the musicians give expressive voice to all of the works performed on the fifty-one-minute release.

After Couperin's brooding “Unmeasured Prelude No. 7” initiates Last Song rather contemplatively, the album hits an early stride with Sveinsson's Three Marian Prayers and in particular its poignant “Máríuvísur (Song for Maria).” The violinist veritably sings her part with deep feeling, her voicing of the song's sorrowful melody first delivered in the middle register before being repeated higher, and then treats the haunting “Maríukvæði (Poem for Maria)” to a dignified and eloquent reading. Described by the violinist as “the grand lady of music in Iceland,” Viðar composed her Icelandic Suite in 1973 to commemorate the 1100-year anniversary of the country's settlement and, from the passionate “Ávarp (Prologue)” to the effervescent “Vikivaki (Dance),” distilled the majesty of its landscapes into musical form. “Melodie,” from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and “Meditation,” from Massenet's opera Thaïs, receive gorgeous renderings by the duo, as does “I Ensomme Stunde,” an affectingly lyrical setting by Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Bull. The album's romantic dimension resonates through the vocal-like melodicism of Couperin's “Aubade Provencale” and Jóhannsson's “In a Dream,” while the latter's “Lullaby” adds a different twist to the album in coupling violin and toy piano. Hildegard von Bingen's “Anima Processional” arrests the ear with its aggressive droning expression, and Sveinbjarnardóttir's “Last Song” likewise leaves a lasting impression when it pairs dramatic, Pärt-like violin figures with prepared piano.

September 2021