When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
Memorable music from a master gone too soon
SIMON DUFF recommends a beguiling moving and personal musical dream from the award-winning Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson
Johann Johannsson
Drone Mass
Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
DESPITE its title Drone Mass is neither a setting of the Mass nor a piece that simply drones. Rather it is Johann Johannsson’s personal journey inspired by those two force fields. In essence an electroacoustic oratorio.
Science and technology were a key part in the life of the Icelandic composer. Even in his early work such as IBM 1401 A users Manual, his debut album for 4AD in 2006, he used words taken from an IBM computer manual.
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