When compared to the extremely conservative music of his Icelandic contemporaries, Leifur Þórarinsson's works for chamber orchestra may seem quite avant-garde and daring. However, most experienced listeners will find his odd amalgamations of
Stravinsky's asymmetrical rhythms, Schoenberg's atonality, and
Hindemith's counterpoint to be rather tame, if not old hat. At his wildest, as in the opening work In Cyprus and the closing piece Styr: Notturno Capriccioso, Þórarinsson occasionally surprises the listener with loud outbursts of honking winds, scurrying strings, and clanging piano chords, but these moments are by no means shocking. At his strangest, as in the fragmented Spring in My Heart, Þórarinsson seems to dabble in the parodic surrealism of
Peter Maxwell Davies, but gently and more dreamily, without menace or violence. Indeed, Þórarinsson's tone is often so subdued and quiescent -- even otherworldly -- that the music becomes terribly soft for long stretches and almost inaudible. No doubt the scores call for such extreme dynamics, and these are faithfully observed by the controlled and capable
Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra; the reproduction's wide frequency range seems gauged to accommodate, but even the most attentive listener will have to adjust the volume in the barely audible passages of In Cyprus, Rent, and A Dream of the "House."