Jón Leifs - Piano Music (Örn Magnússon)

Information

Composer: Jón Leifs

• Vökudraumur (Hugleiðing [Rêverie])
• Torrer - Intermezzo, Op. 1 No. 2
• Fjögur lög fyrir pianoforte (Four Pieces for the Piano), Op. 2
• Íslensk þjóðlög (Icelandic Folk-songs)
• Rímnadanslög (Icelandic Dances), Op. 11
• Ný rímnadanslög (New Icelandic dances), Op. 14b
• Strákalag (Boy's song), Op. 49

Örn Magnússon, piano

Date: 1994

Label: BIS

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Jón Leifs (1 May 1899 – 30 July 1968) was an Icelandic composer, pianist and conductor. Born in Iceland, he left for Germany in 1916 to study at the Leipzig Conservatory, graduating in 1921. During this period he also encountered Ferruccio Busoni, who urged him to "follow his own path in composition". Beginning with piano arrangements of Icelandic folk songs, Leifs started an active career as a composer in the 1920s. In 1945 he moved back to Iceland, and became a fierce proponent of music education and of artists' rights. Most of his works is inspired by Icelandic natural phenomena and classic Icelandic sagas.

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Örn Magnússon (born 15 January 1959) is an Icelandic pianist, organist and choirmaster. He graduated from the Akureyri Music College in the north of Iceland and then went on to further studies in Manchester, Berlin and London. Magnússon is a highly active musician, participating in a rich variety of concerts and recordings, both as a soloist and a chamber musician, having performed in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and many other European countries as well as Japan. He is particularly known for his interest and devotion to Icelandic music, especially the music of the towering figure amongst Icelandic composers, Jón Leifs.

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