# Rank these 4 tone poems by Jón Leifs in order of preference



## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

Between 1961 and 1965, Icelandic composer Jón Leifs (1899-1968) wrote four single-movement orchestral pieces - each depicting an aspect of Nordic natural phenomena.

In other words, 4 tone poems in 4 years! 

Some require a chorus; all of them are 1) written for large symphonic resources, and 2) relatively short in runtime duration.

Here's my ranking, which reflects my assessment of these works in decreasing order:

1. GEYSIR, Opus 51 (1961, premiered November 1st, 1984)
2. HAFIS, Opus 63 (1965, premiered in May 1999)
3. HEKLA, Opus 52 (1961, first public performance on October 2, 1964)
4. DETTIFOSS, Opus 57 (1964, premiered January 31st, 1998)

I love GEYSIR and HAFIS. These both have 'mysterioso' preludes which develop satisfyingly to their aquatic climaxes before subsiding back into the stillness from which they sprang. HAFIS is both choral & symphonic. The orchestral GEYSIR is my favorite because its utilization of the contrabassoon is outstanding.

HEKLA might be the most well-known of these pieces, since it was performed while its composer was still alive and has accumulated a reputation as one of the loudest orchestral set-pieces.
As much as I like HEKLA, I personally feel its opening build-up is rather too brief and, overall, this work comes across as one long crescendo in search of a larger (and non-existent) arching fresco in which to relax.

DETTIFOSS is prime Jón Leifs, too, but its baritone soloist takes this choral & orchestral piece further away from its tone poem origins.

Both of the 1961 works (GEYSIR and HEKLA) received their world premiere recordings in 1989 with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Zukofsky, which surfaced onto this 1991 CD (called "Visions and Images") on the ITM label:










...and both of these items have been deposited into YouTube. 

GEYSIR





HEKLA





Since then, the BIS label has devoted an album apiece to each opus above within their survey of music by Jón Leifs.



















YT clips also exist for the BIS versions, if you are interested.

Please offer your rankings of these "nature portraits".


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

DETTIFOSS was recorded in September of 1998 and released on disc in 1999.


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

HAFIS was recorded by BIS in the same month of its premiere. The CD came out in Y2K.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Thanks for the info. The only one of these works I am familiar with is _Hekla_.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

It´s been a while since I heard the pieces, but I remember that the various recordings were very different from each other, influencing the experience a lot. "Geysir" is definitely impressive.

There is also a Chandos issue with selected orchestral works 
https://www.chandos.net/Details06.asp?CNumber=CHAN 9433


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

I got about halfway through Hekla, but before any 'geyser' could spout, found nothing at all to hold my interest beyond a little bit of instrumental color in the lower register with the winds and a contrabassoon.

It is a perfect example of an experience I have often enough: If something sounds enough like, or reminds me enough of, music of another composer, I'd rather hear something by that other composer.

The harmonic vocabulary I found boringly ordinary, rather cliche, even for its time. and it did not pull me in or hold my interest.

It sounded to me like an unsuccessful segment from a Bernard Hermann film score, and made me think I would rather listen to some Bernard Herrmann than Leifs, and I almost never listen to film scores, fining little joy there. Ditto music at the service of supposedly 'describing' or illustrating something.

In brief, Leifs left me cold, well cold enough I had no interest in checking the other Youtube link, nor will I investigate any of his other music. There is enough of his 'sensibility' and 'how he writes' in the bit I listened to that I know I am not interested in more of it.

Pretty dull stuff :-/


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*HEKLAS or MOUNT ST. HELENS*



PetrB said:


> I got about halfway through Hekla, but before any 'geyser' could spout, found nothing at all to hold my interest beyond a little bit of instrumental color in the lower register with the winds and a contrabassoon.
> 
> It is a perfect example of an experience I have often enough: If something sounds enough like, or reminds me enough like, music of another composer, I'd rather hear something by that other composer.
> 
> ...


Lief did set out what he wanted to do. It still sounds like a volcano eruption. That's it! A new thread? Which do you like better? Heklas or the Hovhaness's _"Mount St. Helens" Symphony_. Are there any other volcanic works out there?

I just thought of another. Roberts Simpson's work for brass band: _Volcano_.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

*Hafis *(1965) is extraordinary. *Leifs* doesn't take too long to develop orchestration (about 3 minutes), and interesting twists and turns keep one interested right to the end. A lot of ground is covered in 18 minutes. Interplay of brass, voice, percussion is special.

The other three works for exploring and grading didn't grip me. None, I felt, had the pathos of *Hafis*.

Listening further, I enjoyed his 1968 "resting piece" *Consolation*. A six minute Intermezzo for string orchestra, that again develops quicky. Good emotion here, without syrup.

Thanks Prod, for this mission.:tiphat:


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

arpeggio said:


> Lief did set out what he wanted to do. It still sounds like a volcano eruption. That's it! A new thread? Which do you like better? Heklas or the Hovhaness's _"Mount St. Helens" Symphony_. Are there any other volcanic works out there?
> 
> I just thought of another. Roberts Simpson's work for brass band: _Volcano_.


Won't 'dis' any of the above further -- none of it is 'my cuppa'


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Won't 'dis' any of the above further -- none of it is 'my cuppa'


I was trying to be light hearted. Did I goof?. PetrB, you gave an honest assessment of the _Heklas_. It is an unusual work. For some it will be a positive experience, for others...

My personal experiences with Lief are very uneven. I am only familiar with some of his works. I have had some positive experiences. Some of his stuff leaves me cold. The positive experiences I have had makes me want to continue to explore his music.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

PetrB said:


> I got about halfway through Hekla, but before any 'geyser' could spout, found nothing at all to hold my interest beyond a little bit of instrumental color in the lower register with the winds and a contrabassoon.
> 
> It is a perfect example of an experience I have often enough: If something sounds enough like, or reminds me enough of, music of another composer, I'd rather hear something by that other composer.
> 
> ...


Well, since you - as far as I remember - have stated that you don´t like Bruckner or Mahler, that you don´t like descriptive music and that you don´t own any Beethoven recordings, it´s not that surprising that a short sample of sublime Leifs isn´t your cup of tea .

For volcano music, there´s of course also "Funiculi - Funicula", albeit in another vein ;-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funiculì,_Funiculà


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## Prodromides (Mar 18, 2012)

*bumped*

... for any new rankings.


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