Meeting composer Úlfur Hansson, and getting to listen to his emotinful piece called Stoicheia was quite an experience. Asked what the name means, he explains that it‘s a Greek word meaning „any first thing“ or kind of an origin. „I normally just start writing and then find a name that fits the composition, but this time I saw the word and wanted to write a piece about that, so I just started writing.“
A quartet called Nordic Affect, with all women, performs the music on period instuments, including a harpsichord. The lights in Nordurljos, Harpa are red and the piece starts off with heavy and big tones from the harpsichords lower register. Quietly, one by one, melodies from the string instruments start to occur. It‘s three intertwining melodies against single chords, coming to a perfect mix slowly. Then an alternation between notes starts and its like a clown is walking in, becoming slower, sad and if he is stumbling over his own feet.
We all know our origins but nobody knows where it‘s going, maybe we‘re all heading in the wrong direction?