Peter Sheppard Skærved – Hafliði Hallgrímsson: Offerto (2021) [FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Hafliði Hallgrímsson (b.1941) is widely regarded as Iceland’s pre-eminent composer, as well as a highly accomplished cellist. He studied with Enrico Mainardi and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and was cellist with many leading chamber ensembles until devoting himself full time to composition in 1983. Also, in 1970, Hallgrímsson played the (uncredited) cello solo on ‘Atom Heart Mother’ by Pink Floyd. His voice is extremely distinctive and within modernist styles can communicate serious emotions of loss and sorrow and also intensive wit and charm as demonstrated so well by his Klee Sketches on this recording. The Klee Sketches are dedicated to Peter Sheppard Skærved, the performer here. Peter Sheppard Skærved is known for his pioneering approach to the music of the past and our own time. Over 400 works have been written for him. Peters exhaustive work on music for violin alone has resulted in research, performances and recordings of cycles by Bach, de Bériot, Tartini, Telemann, and, most recently, his project, Preludes and Vollenteries, which brings together 200 unknown works from the seventeenth century. His dedicated support of contemporary music (especially with his ensembles, the Kreutzer Quartet and Longbow), is considerable. He is also an accomplished painter and a published writer on many subjects.

Tracklist:

01. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: I. Klee Practicing an Accompaniment for a Popular Song
02. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: II. And Now for the Art of String-Crossing
03. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: III. Klee Experimenting with a New Scale
04. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: IV. Klee Takes a Legato-Line for a Walk (Second Version)
05. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: V. Do Not Neglect Your Pizzicato Herr Klee
06. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: VI. Frau Klee Is Sleeping (Second Version)
07. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: VII. Klee Entertaining Kandinsky
08. Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: I. Written in Sand
09. Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: II. Lines Without Words
10. Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: III. The Flight of Time
11. Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: IV. Almost a Hymn
12. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: I. Klee the Artist Plays His Violin
13. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: II. Klee Sounds Out an Etching He Is Contemplating
14. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: III. Frau Klee Is Sleeping (First Version)
15. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: Iv. Klee Sketching a Tree
16. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: V. Klee Performing at the Grave of His Father
17. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: VI. Klee Observing a Large Butterfly
18. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: VII. Klee Takes a Legato-Line for a Walk (First Version)
19. Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: VIII. Klee Notates Birdsong in the Aviary