JÓRUN VIÐAR (1918-2017): Icelandic Suite for Violin and Piano, JÓN NORDAL (b.1926): Fairy-tale Sisters for Violin and Piano, 4 Panel Pictures for Cello and Piano, SVEINBJÖRN SVEINBJÖRNSSON (1847-1927): Piano Trio in A Minor.

Description: We offered a Nordal orchestral disc back in 2016 (08S011) whose contents were from his later post-Darmstadt period of often intense and brooding works. But what we have here are the 1944 Fairy-tale Sisters which refers directly to melodic ideas and rhythmical patters typical if traditional Icelandic folk dances and the 1992 Panel Pictures, a nine-minute suite inspired by Icelandic poetry but using more modern techniques to convey the austere beauty of his homeland’s nature. Viðar’s 16-minute suite from 1974 returns to traditional folk music for influences and includes some references to Icelandic folk instruments. We’ve had Sveinbjörnsson’s trio twice before (even on Naxos back in January of 2008!), so his backward-looking style influenced by Gade and Mendelssohn makes him the odd-man out here. Agnieszka Panasiuk (piano), Anna Wandtke (violin), Paweł Panasiuk (cello).