Illumine
For 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos & 1 double bass
Duration 8 mins
For upcoming - as well as past - performances, please click here.
Commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain
Premiered by Ensemble Intercontemporain, conducted by Matthias Pintscher, at Cité de la musique, Philharmonie de Paris on March 30 2017
Illumine is featured on Anna’s 2018 portrait album Aequa (Sono Luminus)
Program notes
The inspiration for Illumine is based on the notion of dawn and the relationship between light and darkness – in particular the ignition of the first beams of light and the subtle rhythms that appear through the pulsating dance of light emerging.
Selected reviews:
“[A] string octet establishes a drone before smearing it outwards, violently punctuating it with slapped pizzicati and, eventually, arriving at a thoroughly weird place that sounds both resolved yet fundamentally troubled. Absolutely remarkable.” - Simon Cummings, 5against4
“[Extended techniques] serve clear, expressive ends, as in Illumine, a delicately ravishing octet for strings, whose unaccompanied snap pizzicatos near the beginning foreshadow the seething last minute or so of the piece.” - Jonathan Blumhoffer, The Arts Fuse
““Illumine” is the album’s other standout, a succinct 7-minute summation of Thorvaldsdottir’s themes. The early strings seem foreboding, coiled, like the shadows before the light is flicked. In the final minutes one can hear the light approaching from the edges, an irrepressible sunrise. The highest notes are reached as the piece concludes.” - Richard Allen, A Closer Listen
“Thorvaldsdottir’s string writing is the highlight, blending eerie textural effects with languid, mournful melodic passages, as on the dazzling “Illumine.” … Moments of sweeter tonality are fleeting, and thus especially meaningful—beautiful hues on the horizon at dusk.” - Winston Cook-Wilson, SPIN Magazine
“The work itself seemed to gradually unfold to reveal a serene, yet deeply tainted landscape; an entanglement of rhizomatic trajectories.” - Stephanie Jones, Tempo