Icelandic Folk Song Suite No. 2
Kenley Kristofferson
Ensemble: Concert Band
Grade: 5
Duration: 05:30
Year of Composition: 2015
Premiered by: Winnipeg Wind Ensemble (Jacquie Dawson, conductor)
Date of Premiere: May 3, 2015
Publisher: self-published
Year of Publication: 2017
Publisher Catalog Number: KK201702
Available: Yes
How to Acquire: Composer, Purchase
Links:
The complete suite is in four movements. The first two movements are published as Icelandic Folk Song Suite No. 1, and the final two are contained in this publication.
I. Ólafur Liljurós
II. Bí Bí og Blaka
III. Krummavísur
IV. Á Sprengisandi
Program Notes:
In the repertoire of concert band and wind ensemble music, the folk song suite holds deep meaning and importance. Icelandic Folk Song Suite is my contribution to that legacy in our field and is, very much at its heart, a love letter to it. This work endeavours to new musical work set in this traditional structure to celebrate making music in the concert band and wind ensemble settings.
As folk song suites often use national music as a connecting thread through it (like Vaughan William’s English Folk Song Suite, for example), I incorporate traditional Icelandic folk music here, and for two reasons. The first is that there isn’t much Icelandic music in our repertoire and there is room for a meaningful contribution there. The second is that Icelandic music is very close to my heart. While my nationality is Canadian, my heritage is Scandinavian—primarily Icelandic, with a dash of Norwegian and Swedish.
I grew up in a small town called Gimli, Manitoba in the prairie region of Canada. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scores of immigrants fled Iceland escaping volcanic eruption, deterioration in the climate and growing conditions, and an epidemic infecting their sheep. Many who chose to leave and many found their way to Canada and established a colony in Manitoba called “New Iceland”, with Gimli as its main settlement—the town where I grew up.
All of the melodic material in this suite stems from four Icelandic folk songs: "Ólafur Liljurós" (Movement I),
"Bí bí og blaka" (II), "Krummavísur" (III), and "Á Sprengisandi" (IV).
"Krummavísur" is about a raven who scours the earth for food. Every time he finds a good meal, something always gets in his way and he remains hungry for another day.
"Á Sprengisandi" details a man riding his horse down the Sprengisandur trail in Iceland. He implores his steed to ride faster each verse, as the road is dangerous and full of elves.
(Kenley Kristofferson)
