Event info

The Iceland Symphony´s new Friday concert series begins with two works by Eastern European composers. The pieces on the programme focus on melodies themselves rather than thematic development in the German style.

It was not for no reason that Tchaikovsky was called a master of melody. Like Chopin, he could spin out flowing lines rich with expressive power. Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 4 is exactly such a work: lyrical and melodic, yet packed with emotion. It was written during a difficult period in the composer's life, and he himself said the music reflected two forces: man and his fate – “the fatal power which prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness.”

A contemporary composer who has focused on melody in a similar fashion is the Estonian Arvo Pärt. In his Spiegel im Spiegel, composed in 1978, the musical material could hardly be simpler. Growing gradually from the miniscule steps taken by the violin is a melody that intertwines with the broken chords in the piano in a unique and captivating way.

PROGRAMME
Arvo Part
Spiegel im Spiegel
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony no. 4

CONDUCTOR
Daníel Bjarnason

SOLOIST(S)
Nicola Lolli and
Anna Guðný Guðmundsdóttir