JÓN ÁSGEIRSSON (b.1928): Piano Quintet, String Quartet No. 3, Wind Quintet No. 2, Octet for Winds, Seven-String Poem for String Septet.

Catalogue Number: 03J079
Label: Smekkleysa
Reference: SMK 32
Format: CD
Price: $18.98
Description: This composer's music is influenced by Icelandic folk music (the piano quintet is a four-movement piece based on as many as six folk melodies) and by Bartók and Hindemith (the latter's use of intervals of the fourth, fifth and second is often echoed in Asgeirsson's compositions) although a twelve-tone row also makes an appearance in the string quartet without being treated in a dogmatic fashion. These concise works never outstay their welcome and will be attractive to all collectors of 20th century chamber music which did not follow the Schoenberg Express straight into Darmstadtian complexity. Members of the Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra.