Johann Johannsson - Orphee

Album cover art for upc 028947960218
Label: DG
Catalog: 4796021
Format: CD

1. Flight From The City 6:31 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Yuki Numata Resnick, Caleb Burhans, Ben Russell, Clarice Jensen 2. A Song For Europa 2:34 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Air Lyndhurst String Orchestra, Anthony Weeden 3. The Drowned World 2:21 Jóhann Jóhannsson 4. A Deal With Chaos 2:06 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Clarice Jensen 5. A Pile Of Dust 4:51 6. A Sparrow Alighted Upon Our Shoulder 2:27 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Air Lyndhurst String Orchestra, Anthony Weeden 7. Fragment I 1:25 Jóhann Jóhannsson 8. By The Roes, And By The Hinds Of The Field 2:39 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Air Lyndhurst String Orchestra, Anthony Weeden 9. The Radiant City 3:31 Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Dirac Quartet 10. Fragment II 2:12 Jóhann Jóhannsson 11. The Burning Mountain 2:46 12. De Luce Et Umbra 2:29 Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Dirac Quartet 13. Good Morning, Midnight 3:18 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Air Lyndhurst String Orchestra, Anthony Weeden 14. Good Night, Day 3:58 Jóhann Jóhannsson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Air Lyndhurst String Orchestra, Anthony Weeden 15. Orphic Hymn 3:27 Theatre of Voices

Jóhannssons genre-blending score represents all facets of his previous works from intimate string quartet pieces, to large string orchestra works, featuring electronics, drones, organ, piano, choir, as well as enigmatic shortwave broadcasts to create an evocative & immersive sound. I started writing this album in 2009, using a number of simple contrapuntal themes. I began to reshape and transfigure these ideas, writing many different variations. These renderings slowly mutated over time in a process of deconstruction and re-assembly, to the extent that the original versions began to fade into the darker corners of my hard disk. Unlike many of my previous albums, this one didnt start out with a conceptual or narrative theme binding the music together. Rather, the music seemed to be waiting for its form, for its momentum. Jóhann Jóhannsson ORPHÉE is a melancholic, yet optimistic musical journey inspired by the Orpheus myth Orpheus rising from the underworld, trying to escape darkness into the light. Orphée was for me about moving to a new city, breaking up old relationships and beginning new ones, leaving behind an old life in Copenhagen and building a new one in Berlin. I think thats why I gravitated to Ovids version of the Orpheus myth, which tells of death, rebirth and an artist s search for truth. This album is an oblique reflection on personal change.

Price: $16.98