But even here the actual content and expression is more important. One aspect is the elegance, playfulness and the light touch. This may be found in the predominantly happy works such as the orchestral Lceti from 1971. The title indeed means happiness, boisterousness. But the same quality is also to be found in more serious works, and not least in the sacred music. The parallel with Haydn is obvious. The light touch testifies to an excellent craftsmanship and also to a funda- mental joy of life. It is the expression of this radiance that seems to be the real purpose of the music. This does not mean that he is indulging in escapism or does not know about the world’s darkness and evil. The work rather realises his thoughts about the function and purpose of music. There is little room for egocentric expressionism in Porkell Sigur- bjornsson’s music - or for that matter in Icelandic music as a whole. Maybe one can argue that Icelandic society does not easily tolerate creative egos that are very subjective or ostentatious in their nature. Artists exist to express something of life and its conditions rather than something of themselves. The step from these concepts to the epic narrative of Porkell Sigurbjomsson’s music’ is not so great. It is an epic that places the human being at its centre. His very rare departures into naturalistic impressions nevertheless always contain a course of events that include human feelings and expression. Nature is only interesting when placed in relation to mankind. There are indeed several examples of purely abstract music in his production (such as the piano suite Der Wohltemperierte Pianist) but the narrative element is often so striking that it is not unreasonable to bring to memory the Icelandic culture’s literary traditions. Liongate is an example of this. It is the third of Porkell Sigurbjomsson’s works for flute and orchestra and was written in 1983 for the Canadian flautist Robert Aitken, by whom it has been played on several concert tours abroad. The title refers to the Lion Gate in Mycenae where, according to Homer, Agamemnon was king. The flute concerto tells - or builds its form on - how Agamemnon returns home after the Trojan War, slowly, with weary legs in the basking sun. He enters through the Lion Gate and discovers that his wife, Clytaemnestra, had taken Aegisthus as her lover. Together they later murder Aga- memnon and then dance a tango (!) over his body.

(1) Front Board
(2) Front Board
(3) Front Flyleaf
(4) Front Flyleaf
(5) Front Cover
(6) Front Cover
(7) Page [1]
(8) Page [2]
(9) Page I
(10) Page II
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(191) Back Cover
(192) Back Cover
(193) Rear Flyleaf
(194) Rear Flyleaf
(195) Rear Board
(196) Rear Board
(197) Spine
(198) Fore Edge
(199) Scale
(200) Color Palette