Skógur (2021)
Instrumentation: voice & piano
Skógur (Forest) is a short art song for voice & piano in late-romantic style, set to the following poem by the Icelandic poet Steinn Steinarr:
Forest
Above the forest's light-golden limbs
the sky rises wide and blue.
And beneath lives the dirt and the darkness,
that feeded my silent desires.
In a hopeless anguish the fatally wounded deer,
into the forest's hideout flees.
And my love is the foretst's shadow,
and you are the dying animal.
English translation: Gísli Magnússon
Skógur
Yfir skógarins ljósgullna limi
rís himinninn breiður og blár.
Og undir býr moldin og myrkrið,
sem ól mínar þögulu þrár.
Í vonlausri angist hin helsærða hind
inn í skógarins fylgsni flýr.
Og ást mín er skógarins skuggi,
og þú ert hið dauðvona dýr.
Steinn Steinarr
In the summer of 2021, as a part of the Oregon Bach Festival Composer Symposium, I participated in a program called Vocal Fellows. This program was mentored by the renowned soprano Estelí Gomez. With her guidance I composed and performed the song while accompanying myself on the piano.