ATLI HEIMIR SVEINSSON (b.1938): Lift up your heads, O ye gates.

Catalogue Number: 02L121
Label: Smekkleysa
Reference: SMK 37
Format: CD
Price: $18.98
Description: This is a 75-minute meditation for solo clarinet, inspired by the 24th Psalm of David, a paean of praise glorifying the majesty and might of God (the one with 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates ... and the King of glory shall come in.'). The composer says "At its best, music can awaken a sense of spirituality in our hearts, making us more receptive to the divine. That was the primary aim of this work." Rather than attempting a programmatic depiction of "The Lord strong and mighty / The Lord mighty in battle", for which a solo clarinet might seem less than ideally suited, Sveinsson instead provides a genuine meditation, an extended monologue which, listened to in one unbroken stretch as intended, has a stilling, hypnotic effect. Entirely devoid of active, fast music but relying instead on extreme dynamic and timbral contrast, microtonal inflections and some extended playing sounds (in moderation), the effect is of an impassioned sermon which reaches a rhetorical climax between 30 and 45 minutes, then changes oratorical direction for what might be heard as a detailed examination of points of the text thunderously intoned from the high pulpit. An intriguing idea, carried out to its fullest extent. Einar Jóhannesson (clarinet).