Description
Kristian Blak (b. 1947) is the founder and the current artistic director of Summartónar Festival of Classical and Contemporary music in the Faroe Islands. Blak is, as a composer, equally known for his suites for jazz groups. Most of these works, as well as his chamber music and orchestral works, have been recorded and released by Tutl. Blak’s compositions include concertos, music for ballets and theatre, string quartets and numerous other works for chamber groups and for solo instruments.
This album contains three pieces: I. Undirlýsi String Quartet No. 3, II. Álvarann and III. Concerto for Double Bass & Baroque Orchestra.
Undirlýsi is Kristian Blak’s third string quartet. Undirlýsi was composed for performance at the Myrkrar Musikkdagar – „Dark Music Days” – Festival in Iceland. The musical material is based on impressions of light. In the Faroe Islands, light is rarely constant, always changing. This string quartet is in one long move- ment consisting of nine parts. The parts move along gradually, flowing from one to the next like changes of light, the middle parts being the darkest. ,,Undirlýsi” is the Faroese word for a special kind of light (,,underlight”) which shines from under clouds. In this piece, ,,undirlýsi” refers especially to parts seven & eight.
Alvarann (,,House of Elves”) is Blak’s second composition for solo violin. Like Böhmerlands Dronning („,,The Queen of Bohemia”) from 1991, Álvarann is inspired by a folk ballad. The melodic material and inspiration for this piece come from the Faroese ballad,,Ólavur Riddararós”.
Tracklist:
1. Undirlýsi
2. Álvarann
3. Concerto for Double Bass & Baroque Orchestra I: Landscape
4. Concerto for Double Bass & Baroque Orchestra II: Landscape With Birds
5. Concerto for Double Bass & Baroque Orchestra III: Hymns
6. Concerto for Double Bass & Baroque Orchestra IV: Joik
7. Concerto for Double Bass & Baroque Orchestra V: Landscape with Wolves
Released on the following formats:
LP, CD and digitally on all major platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.).
You can check it out by using this link: https://bfan.link/undirlysi
