Aerial

Anna Thorvaldsdottir is an Icelandic composer who frequently works with large sonic structures that tend to reveal the presence of a vast variety of sustained sound materials, reflecting her sense of imaginative listening to landscapes and nature. Her music tends to portray a flowing world of sounds with an enigmatic lyrical atmosphere.

This album presents six world-premiere recordings featuring ensembles of different sizes and configurations. Aeriality is a work for a large instrumental force, written in 2010/2011, consisting of vast sound-textures combined and contrasted with various forms of lyrical material. The title refers to the state of gliding through the air with nothing or little to hold on to as if flying and the music both portrays the feeling of absolute freedom gained from the lack of attachment and the feeling of unease generated by the same circumstances. Aeriality can be said to be on the border of symphonic music and sound art. Parts of the work consist of thick clusters of sounds that form a unity as the instruments of the orchestra stream together to form a single force a sound-mass. The sense of individual instruments is somewhat blurred and the orchestra becomes a single moving body, albeit at times forming layers of streaming materials that flow between different instrumental groups.

The other works on the album have similar relationships to space, sound and nature. Each is a unique sound world that Anna has created allowing the listener to become completely immersed in different landscapes.

With a growing reputation in North America and Europe, her works are frequently performed and have been featured at several major venues and music festivals such as Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Composer Portraits Series at NYC's Miller Theatre, ISCM World Music Days, Nordic Music Days, Ultima Oslo Festival, Klangspuren Festival, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Tectonics, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.