专辑简介

“Hear us, O God on High.” Thus Olafur Jónsson (1560-1627) from Sandar in Dýrafjord addressed his creator. At the dawn of a new century four hundred years later this heartfelt psalm breaks forth with no less passion. Society has changed drastically. Modern housing has replaced turf hovels in this northern extremity of coastal civilisation. The souls of men remain, and the search for a purpose in life, together with the inevitable sentence to quit this place, whatever might follow. Many things have changed in this time, and new flowers blossomed. Women composers have brought a new genre, a new timbre has been discovered in Icelandic music. Women are unlike men. This is patently obvious in the works of the nine female composers on this disc. Certainly the music would have been different if it had been composed by men. Better or worse? -a pointless debate. During Olaf’s lifetime women’s artistic aspirations would have been confined embroidery or other suitable domestic female persuits. Times have changed considerably and now women composers have developed further with their art in Iceland than in many other neighbouring nations, where few have managed to gain acceptance as classical composers. Our decision to sing only works by Icelandic women composers was not just give music by women an opportunity to be heard, but also to introduce a new and distinct tonality. We selected choral works which we considered to show particular musical merit, and there was a wide selection available to choose from.