Press on Aerial
Selected among the Ten Notable Performances and Recordings of 2014.
Alex Ross, New Yorker
Full list here
“[Aeriality] is a big spinning planet of a work that, to echo Whitman, contains multitudes of ideas within itself, pregnant with promise from the opening whipcrack of percussion and major-key chord that keeps reasserting itself as tendrils of other sounds curl off it like smoke."
Anne Midgette, Washington Post
Full review here
Selected among the 10 recordings of 2014.
“Among the most exciting talents to emerge in recent years, Iceland’s Thorvaldsdottir found a new home for her elemental works on the venerable Deutsche Grammophon label.”
Steve Smith, Boston Globe
Full list here
Selected among Top 10 New Music Recordings of 2014.
“A collection of works for various ensembles, from piano and electronics to full orchestra, from one of Iceland’s most distinctive musical voices – and if you know anything about the new music scene in Iceland, you know that’s saying a lot.”
John Schaefer, New Sounds, WNYC
Full list here
“Thorvaldsdottir's music isn't about straightforward narratives; it creates landscapes that linger, summoning phantom sounds and imaginative possibilities. Nothing I've heard this year has sparked my mind like Aerial.”
Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Full review here
“Classically trained composer extraordinaire Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s release of Aerial surely cements her name into the experimental annals. Aerial is a beautiful combination of noise and classical composition.”
Colin Moore, mxdwn
Full review here
“Aerial‘s willingness to stay the course of heavy and steadily dramatic tones … allows Thorvaldsottir to not only strikingly stand out but ultimately succeed in her ambitiously complex vision.”
Altoriot
Full review here
“Aerial is dark and brooding, perfect for winter. Its atmosphere is volatile, menacing and awesome – this is music from a wild northern island where nature is fierce and exhilarating.”
Kate Molleson The Big Issue
Full review here
“[Aeriality] is easily the best modern composition piece I’ve heard all year, and I’ve heard thousands.”
A Closer Listen
Full review here
“Aerial is a bracing, sometimes scary piece of work … it’s got the dark drama of Bruckner and Mahler, the sonic elasticity and playful fractured-ness of Charles Ives, and the apocalyptic crackle of pre-1975 Penderecki.”
Mark Keresman, ICON Magazine, Dec 2014 issue, 4/5 stars (excellent)
Full review here
"Her music is delicate and moody perfection. Her voice is her own."
Collin J. Rae, Stickingittoyou
Full review here
“This music is like a Pink Floyd album, or the trip hop of Portishead, only for orchestra, and slowed down … This is a slow moving and mind expanding experience.”
Good Music Speaks
Full review here
“Right from the opening track it’s obvious that “Aerial“ is something else, almost beyond comparision!”
Peter van Cooten, Ambientblog
Full review here
“The music of Anna Thorvaldsdottir sounds like the space between notes, just before melody meets rhythm, a place where atmosphere and mood prevail. As though the intention to strike the keys, or pluck the string, is suspended. At times it’s as though the notes are cautiously frozen in space, waiting to be played while other sounds stretch and expand, perpetuating the mood and enveloping the moment.”
Paul Parreira, Ravelin Magazine
Full feature here
“This is bold music, equal parts beauty and terror … you'll be pulled through the album almost in a state of suspense. ”
An Earful (music blog)
Full review here
Selected among the “Best of 2014” by the editors of iTunes Classical
iTunes Classical
Selected among the Best Music of 2014
Sasha Frere-Jones, New Yorker
Full list here and here
Selected among the 10 Imagination-Grabbing, Trailblazing Artists of 2014 at Q2
“The Icelandic composer’s 2011 album, Rhizoma (Innova Recordings), debuted a singular voice of mesmeric scope and ability, and 2014’s Aerial (Deutsche Grammophon) proves this talent has only begun to reveal itself.”
Doyle Armbrust, Q2
Full feature here
Selected as Album of the Year (all genres) at Icelandic Newspaper Morgunblaðið.
“[Aerial] er krydduð með skemmtilegum drunga, óhljóðum og myrkri. Frábær plata og plata ársins 2014.”
Árni Matthíassson, Morgunblaðið
Full list here
Selected among the Best albums of 2014
“Þorvaldsdóttir’s approach to composition is heavily informed by an interest in textures, heard to excellent effect on the six works on this album. A recurring feature—and a beguiling one—is her predilection for rendering sounds vague, bereft of an obvious point of origin—no mean feat in instrumental music.”
Simon Cummings, 5:4
Full list here
Selected among the 2014 top icelandic music (best (mostly) instrumental music)
“[Y]ou need patience and about an hour of otherwise unencumbered time to truly experience the geologic pull.”
Jim Beckmann, KEXP Blog
Full list here
“Built around slowly shifting tonal centers that move more like glaciers than blizzards, the works [on Aerial] are cinematic, haunting, often dissonant, and work just as well as the soundtrack to a Minnesota winter as an Icelandic one.”
Steve McPherson, Star Tribune
Full review here
Selected among Top 10 New Music Recordings of 2014
“A collection of works for various ensembles, from piano and electronics to full orchestra, from one of Iceland’s most distinctive musical voices – and if you know anything about the new music scene in Iceland, you know that’s saying a lot.”
John Schaefer, New Sounds, WNYC
Full list here