Commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Society with the generous support of The Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music.

  • 4(picc.afl).2+ca.3+bcl.4+cbn/4222/3perc/str
  • 14 min
    • 22nd March 2023, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
    • 23rd March 2023, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Programme Note

METACOSMOS is constructed around the natural balance between beauty and chaos – how elements can come together in (seemingly) utter chaos to create a unified, structured whole. The idea and inspiration behind the piece, which is connected as much to the human experience as to the universe, is the speculative metaphor of falling into a black hole – the unknown – with endless constellations and layers of opposing forces connecting and communicating with each other, expanding and contracting, projecting a struggle for power as the different sources pull on you and you realize that you are being drawn into a force that is beyond your control.

As with my music generally, the inspiration behind METACOSMOS is not something I am trying to describe through the piece - to me, the qualities of the music are first and foremost musical. When I am inspired by a particular element or quality, it is because I perceive it as musically interesting, and the qualities I tend to be inspired by are often structural, like proportion and flow, as well as relationships of balance between details within a larger structure, and how to move in perspective between the two — the details and the unity of the whole.

Programme note © 2017 Anna Thorvaldsdottir

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Anna Thorvaldsdottir: METACOSMOS

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  • Icelandic Voices
    • Icelandic Voices
    • With only a population of around 350,000, Iceland punches well above its weight in so many creative and sporting fields – not least in classical music. Some of the most up-and-coming voices in the film, media and classical, names such as Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Hildur Guðnadóttir, have come this remote corner of the north Atlantic Ocean and created a worldwide reputation of excellence. Discover the work of three such composers, from three different generations, published by Wise Music.

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