Press on Rhízoma
“Rhízōma establishes a significant compositional voice.”
Julian Cowley, The Wire Magazine, february 2012 issue.
“Nothing is more exciting than discovering an emerging composer already in possession of a distinct, powerful voice.”
#3 in The best classical albums of 2011 - Steve Smith, TimeOut New York
Full list here
“Traverses the planes of the terrifying and the intimate.”
In top 10 for The best classical albums of 2011 - Doyle Armbrust, TimeOut Chicago
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“What makes [Rhizoma] so engrossing is an eye for the minutest of details. If … every snowflake is different, then every note in Thorvaldsdottir’s intricate compositions is equally unique.”
Q2 Music, New York
Full feature here
“The Icelandic composer’s scores wander introspectively through a vast spatial plane. Rhízoma is an album for the snowed-in days ahead.”
Doyle Armbrust, TimeOut Chicago
Full review here
“... minimalistic yet lush, desolate yet forcefully immediate, dark masterpiece”
Lucid Culture
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“The album is full of soundscapes that fill the head of the listener. ... Their bare nature makes them incredibly intriguing, something that is difficult to achieve, as it is a thin rope to walk on.”
Elena Saavedra Buckley, Sequenza21
Full review here
"[T]he depth and sumptuousness of the orchestral writing ... turn this into a compelling, even ravishing, creation."
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
Full review here
“This interesting, complex music requires total concentration at least. … The best way to really approach music like this is … to just listen and react. … Anna Thorvaldsdottir approaches her music in a very sophisticated, academic and provocative manner.”
Daniel Coombs, Audiophile Audition
Full review here
“Hers is a music that unfolds like some natural element that’s teeming with micro-tonal shapes, accents, and clusters, and though Rhízoma is her debut album, her compositions have appeared on a number of albums prior to this superb Innova release. … Thorvaldsdottir's focus is clearly on developing her own vision, something Rhízoma accomplishes powerfully.”
Textura
Full review here
"It’s like a soundtrack to a cold, surreal movie. ... When instruments are used so sparingly, they are all the more worth paying attention to."
KFJC 89.7 FM
Full feature here
“The two longer pieces are the clear highlights – taking grander, more cinematic swoops into the unexpected – but the surrounding material form the integral rubble and foothills by which the depth and magnitude of the album’s mountainous centrepieces can be realised. ... everything from the chilling scrapes of detail to the overblown booms of sound are painstakingly placed and marvellously executed.”
Jack Chuter, ATTN:Magazine
Full review here
“Immense, dark, painfully beautiful.”
#3 in Best of 2011 - Adriano Estaves, Collectables
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Rhízōma listed as Icelandic Album of the Year by Árni Matthíasson at Icelandic Newspaper Morgunbladid.
"[The music on Rhizoma] is meticulously crafted and beautifully put together. The result is enchanting and poetic."
Jónas Sen, Icelandic Newspaper Fréttablaðið
"This deliberate music accrues to create organically inspired textures, perhaps a Lachenmann moment spread to a Feldmanesque scale."
La Folia
Full feature here
“Rhízōma is modern composition at its very best, a welcome challenge to the ear.”
Richard Allen, A closer listen.
Full review here
"This is subtle, rich, atmospheric, meditative - almost transcendental - music of uncommon beauty…"
Byzantion, MusicWeb International
Full review here