Sunleif Rasmussen

Sunleif Rasmussen ( born March 19, 1961 in Sandur ) is a major Faroese composer of classical music of the second half of the 20th century.

After studying in Norway, he returned to Tórshavn, where he worked as a music teacher and jazz pianist. From 1990 to 1995 he studied, the first Faroese ever, composition at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in Ib Nørholm and electronic music with Ivar Frounberg. At IRCAM in Paris, he came into contact with composers such as Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey. He has won two awards in 1992. In 1997, he received a three-year grant from the Danish National Cultural Fund.

In 2002, he became the first Faroese the Music Prize of the Nordic Council with his Symphony No. 1 Oceanic Days (1995-1997 ) of the first Faroese symphony, composed on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the building of the North and was premiered ibid. A special feature of this symphony is that synthesizer speaker and two percussionists are stationed behind the audience, which is thus surrounded like an island in the sea of ​​music.

" Sunleif Rasmussen has established the Faroe Islands on the musical map. His symphony Oceanic Days takes its inspiration from both the Faroese landscape as well as the old Faroese chorales. This Sunleif Rasmussen has a work with far-reaching dimensions, more radiant, created irresistible and artistic purity that combines artistic ambition and poetry in itself. "

Before his jazz background and the rich folk music traditions of his country, he combines them with electro-acoustic and spectral music, so at the end of an abstraction of the traditional treasure of songs produced, which makes the original melody unrecognizable. More inspiration Rasmussen gets from literary works William Hein Esen ( 1900-1991 ).

In the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic was on 7 October 2006, the piece Creatio caeli et terrae. This quartus ( The creation of heaven and earth. Day four) from Rasmussen's cycle to the creation story in the first book of Moses premiered by the RIAS Chamber Choir. On 12 October 2006 Rasmussen Opera Í Óðamansgarði premiered in Tórshavn. It is the first Faroese opera. The text is by Danial Hoydal.

Discography

(Selection)

  • Sourrounded, Caput Ensemble Reykjavík, 2002
  • Symphony No. 1/Saxophonkonzert, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, 2005
Nordic Council Music Prize Nordic House in the Faroe Islands William Heinesen Berliner Philharmonie Integrated Authority File
754925
de