Leifs'
Edda is
here represented by its epic first part: no less than
The
Creation of the World. The
Edda,
in full,
was intended to be a four-part construct:
The Creation
of the World;
The Lives of the Gods;
Twilight;
Resurrection.
Part 1 as featured here is in thirteen separately-tracked
episodes. It was written between 1932 and 1937. Edda 2
was completed in May 1966 and Edda 3 was unfinished.
Its style
bears no comparison with that of Wagner's tetralogy. The
parallel is only prompted by the many years he spent in
Germany and his Icelandic saga subject matter. In this
connection listeners may recall his
Saga
Symphony – also recorded by BIS. It too uses the
Lur - a long horn perhaps comparable in appearance and
size to the Alpenhorn. The percussion includes the clashing
of boulders.
Leifs language
in
Edda I is the usual very idiosyncratic modernised
blend of laconic Beethovenian protest and gentle poetry – almost
Grieg-like in this last aspect. The result is part awkward
and part
Egmont-magnificent. Mix this with choral
writing that is often evocative of the Scandinavian ecstasy
of the high places (tr. 2) and you have a potent and unforgettable
mix. The boulder-heavy, grunting and emphatic language
is typical of this composer but impressive and moving.
Leifs’ writing has a stark and brazen power often characterised
by stomping off-rhythm thunder-flash chords for brass and
percussion as in
Hekla.
Ultimately this composer is
sui generis yet the
choral writing can remind you of a later and now increasingly
popular composer Veljo Tormis (b. 1930). It has a raw,
pristine and timeless quality: the rocks and earth sing.
On at least one occasion I thought while listening to this
grand but gawky epic of the ululating alleluias of the
finale of Hilding Rosenberg Fourth Symphony
Johannes
Uppenbarelse and of Christopher Brown’s still sadly
unrecorded
Hodie Salvator Apparuit.
The devotion
of BIS to Leifs is sustained and unblinkingly serious.
His music is fully deserving of such commitment which again
is reflected in the Swedish company’s fully detailed liner-notes.
I will be very pleased indeed if BIS record the surviving
parts of the
Edda cycle – splendid in its craggy
and intensely individual lyricism and magnificence.
Rob Barnett
Full tracklisting
Jón Leifs: Edda, Part 1: Sköpun
heimsins (The Creation of the World)
1. I. Ár var alda (Young Were
the Years) [4:19]
2. II. Ýmir (Ymir) [7:22]
3. III. Þursa þjóðar sjöt (The
Giants’ Palace) [2:53]
4. IV. Auðhumla, Óðinn ok hans
bræðr (Audhumla, Odin and his Brothers) [2:54]
5. V. Sær (Sea) [2:36]
6. VI. Jörð (Earth) [2:27]
7. VII. Himinn, sól, dagr (Sky,
Sun, Day) [10:21]
8. VIII. Nótt, morgunn (Night,
Morning) [19:17]
9. IX. Ásgarðr, Askr ok Embla,
Miðgarðr (Asgard, Ash and Embla, Midgard) [3:36]
10. X. Scherzo. Allir menn
urðut jafnspakir (All Men Aren’t Equally Wise) [3:21]
11. XI. Viðr, sumar, logn (Wood,
Summer, Calm) [7:59]
12. XII. Vetr ok vindr (Winter
and Wind) [2:35]
13. XIII. Finale. Ífing, níu
heimar (Ifing, Nine Worlds) [4:44]
Gunnar Guðbjörnsson
(tenor) 
[75:39] 
