Lupus Chorea

Lupus Chorea (2012)
for symphony orchestra, duration 19:10

Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Petri Sakari, and Composer Hilmar Thórdarson

Lupus Chorea is a massive, aggressive piece with big contrasts of loud and soft sonorities. It is like a long-lasting dance with strong rhythmical patterns and short translucent melodic phrases fading in and out of the ever-changing sonic wall.

Percussion, Trombone, and Tuba are the backbones of the rhythmical structure that runs like a red thread throughout the work. They are evenly spread across the stage, creating a rhythmical panning effect that is important for this work.

Woodwinds appear with fast musical gestures, like a bulletproof sound pannel, creating a glittering effect of motion going nowhere. Meanwhile, the strings are like backdrop curtains, fluctuating in the evening breeze, calm and mysterious.

Like the Völva in Völuspá in the poems of Edda, the Celesta continuously repeats its theme;

“Well, would you know more?”.

(“Vitið þér enn eða hvað?”).

Somewhere out there the wolves are dancing.

Lupus Chorea – Wolf dance. Performed by the Iceland Symphony orchestra (Harpa 2015)

The score includes instructions and the beginning of the work.