probably lacks controversial sting. This sting is all the more apparent, however, in Hjakk, an orchestral work written in 1979. According to the dictionary, the title means “hoeing, mowing of grass with weak strokes of the scythe”, but it can also be interpreted as “march on the spot”. A brutal, four- square, monotonous rhythm is placed in the foreground, where it stamps and harps on the same string for fifteen minutes. The only things it manages to conjure up are sporadic, four-square, meaningless activities that just come and go. It is not a long step to interpret Hjakk as a grotesque picture of the world of today - an original, frightening picture of the face of Evil that hits its mark, seething with primitive and brutal foolishness. The composer himself adds another dimension. In the score he says that the ugliness in Hjakk is to prepare for the time of beauty after the end of the piece, in the silence, or even in the next selection on the programme. He has later on developed this theme: “New music has consisted of beautiful sounds for a long time now, but I’ve become rather tired of it. All I want to do now is to produce ugly, brutal sounds - and that was the aim of this piece. Aggressive and provocative to the ears of the listener, to the aesthetics of music, a provocation for the whole of the pop- music and music industry - these industries that cannot and never will be able to fit in with music itself. It must be a question of either-or.” Atli Heimir Sveinsson regards himself as a politically involved composer, not because his music expresses any specific political views, but because each composition is treated by the composer as a political action, be it exclusive, aesthetic chamber music or incidental music for the theatre. He names Mao’s “let a hundred flowers bloom” as a sort of leading light. All sorts of musical tasks are important, symphonies and music for daily use, music for professionals and amateurs, music for adults and children. In 1980 he composed music for the Fostbrcedur male choir in Reykjavik to a new poem on the old, mystical Grotte song by the excellent poet Porsteinn fra Hamri. The text concerns the slaves Fenja and Menja who milled peace and good fortune at their mill for King Frode. However, in protest against his excessive exploitation they altered their production and instead milled war and misfortune. The politics naturally lie

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