Hafliði Hallgrímsson: Offerto Peter Sheppard Skærved

• Hafliði Hallgrímsson (b. 1941): Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1:
• 1 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: I. Klee Practicing an Accompaniment for a Popular Song 02:54
• 2 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: II. And Now for the Art of String-Crossing 02:58
• 3 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: III. Klee Experimenting with a New Scale 01:27
• 4 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: IV. Klee Takes a Legato-Line for a Walk (Second Version) 02:07
• 5 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: V. Do Not Neglect Your Pizzicato Herr Klee 01:49
• 6 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: VI. Frau Klee Is Sleeping (Second Version) 03:17
• 7 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 1: VII. Klee Entertaining Kandinsky 02:24
• Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13:
• 8 Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: I. Written in Sand 05:40
• 9 Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: II. Lines Without Words 03:49
• 10 Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: III. The Flight of Time 04:35
• 11 Hallgrímsson: Offerto in Memoriam Karl Kvaran, Op. 13: IV. Almost a Hymn 06:58
• Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2:
• 12 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: I. Klee the Artist Plays His Violin 01:34
• 13 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: II. Klee Sounds Out an Etching He Is Contemplating 03:35
• 14 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: III. Frau Klee Is Sleeping (First Version) 03:08
• 15 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: Iv. Klee Sketching a Tree 01:55
• 16 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: V. Klee Performing at the Grave of His Father 02:52
• 17 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: VI. Klee Observing a Large Butterfly 02:48
• 18 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: VII. Klee Takes a Legato-Line for a Walk (First Version) 01:26
• 19 Hallgrímsson: Klee Sketches, Op. 32, Book 2: VIII. Klee Notates Birdsong in the Aviary 04:07
• Total Runtime 59:23

Info for Hafliði Hallgrímsson: Offerto

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. Peter’s 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.

Peter Sheppard Skærved, violin

Peter Sheppard Skærved
is known for his pioneering approach to the music of the past and of our own time. He regularly appears as soloist in over 30 countries, and has released over 70 albums, ranging from 17th century solo works to many of 400-plus works dedicated to him, by composers including George Rochberg, Judith Weir, Poul Ruders, David Matthews and Michael Finnissy. He is a Grammy nominee, for his cycle of Henze concerti. This spring he has released five new albums, of Schubert Sonatas with square piano, Edward Cowie solos and quartets, Peter Dickinson sonatas, the Gregory Rose Concerto, and the first recording of the 100-movement Klagenfurt Manuscript (1685). His work with museums has resulted in long-term projects at institutions including the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, the Metropolitan Museum, New York City, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, Galeria Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, and the exhibition ‘Only Connect’, which he curated at the National Portrait Gallery, London. His ‘Tegner’, commissioned by the Bergen International Festival, a close collaboration with the major Norwegian abstract artist, Jan Groth, premiered at Kunsthallen, Bergen, and travelled to Denmark, the US and even Svalbard/Spitzbergen. He is founder and leader of the acclaimed Kreutzer Quartet. He is the ‘Viotti Lecturer’ at the Royal Academy of Music, he was elected Fellow there in 2013. He is married to the Danish writer Malene Skærved and they live in Wapping.

Booklet for Hafliði Hallgrímsson: Offerto