The Iceland Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1950, is one of Europe's youngest national orchestras, representing the musicality of an island nation with only 260,000 inhabitants.
Composer Biography
Jón Leifs and his family, who were Jewish, escaped Germany for Sweden in early 1944, just before almost all Jews in Germany were transported to concentration camps.
Recording & Production
This album is the world premiere complete recording of Jón Leifs' Saga Symphony, recorded after a performance in Hallgrím's Church in Reykjavik.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Jón Leifs intended for the Saga Symphony to be a monumental work describing characters from Icelandic sagas, with one character for each of its five movements.
Compositional Technique
The Saga Symphony uses an enlarged percussion section, including stones, an iron anvil, shields of iron, wood, and leather, and large wooden hammers struck against huge wooden containers.
Composition History
Jón Leifs began composing the Saga Symphony in March 1941, after being publicly humiliated at a concert of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Compositional Technique
The symphony also features six lurs, which are copies of long horns played in Nordic countries during the Bronze Age.
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