HEYR HIMNA SMIÐUR
“8. maí 2001
Ágæta Sigrún Alda
Þú gafst ekki upp neitt nákvæmt heimilisfang – en ég treysti því að þú eigir ekki margar alnöfnur í bænum svo að þessar línur komist til skila. (Prentarinn var bleklaus í dag og ég vona að þú getir lesið hrafnasparkið.)
Þegar ég var unglingur í Gagnfræðaskóla Austurbæjar að læra undir landspróf, þá var íslenskukennarinn Guðrún Helgadóttir (síðar skólastýra Kvennaskólans) dásamlegur og strangur kennari. (Þá voru þéringar við lýði).
Hún lét okkur læra og leggja á minnið óteljandi ljóð og tilvitnanir úr íslenskri tónmenntasögu og þ.á.m. þennan fyrsta sálm, sem við vitum að Íslendingur reyndi að yrkja á móðurmálinu. Svo líða árin og „unglingagraftarbólur hverfa“.
Vorið 1972 var ég í nefnd með gamla kennaranum mínum úr Tónlistarsk. í Rvík. Honum var tíðrætt um þennan sálm Kolbeins Tumasonar. Það var orðið seinfært heim eftir þennan fund – upp Öskjuhlíðina – bílar að renna og spóla o.s.frv. Þá varð lagið til í mínum huga, (seinasta hendingin fyrst). Þegar ég komst svo heim í Kópavog, var ekkert annað eftir en að hripa þessar nótur á blað.
Nokkrum dögum seinna sýndi ég dr. Róbert þessar nótur. Hann varð svo glaður, að hann hreinritaði með sinni listaskrift lagið og sendi til organista og söngstjóra. Blessuð sé minning hans.
Textinn er aðalatriðið. Með fullri virðingu fyrir þeim Sigurði og Gunnari, sem báðir voru fyrrverandi nemendur mínir til Tónlistask. í Rvík. – þá finnst mér að þú ættir að spila fyrir Framfarafélagið frumgerð lagsins t.d. með Hamrahlíðar, Langholts, eða Mótettukórunum.
Bestur óskir og kveðjur, Þorkell Sigurbjörnsson“
https://www.feykir.is/is/frettir/heyr-himna-smidur-50-ar-fra-lagasmidi
LA JOLLA GOOD FRIDAY
This recording, remastered in 2024 by Ian Turner, originally appeared as the CP2/9 label’s ninth vinyl release in 1981. Abstract from the original LP liner notes:
"In 1975 I was invited to the Center for Music Experiment at the University of California at San Diego. Arriving there, one’s mid-Atlantic tempo was not only 7 time-zones out of phase, but one had traded wintry gales for balmy California sun. This entirely different world wasn’t wholly peopled by strangers. There I met again after 15 years my old teacher from Illinois, Kenneth Gaburo, and soon found other kindred spirits in new acquaintances. One of them was Ed Kobrin who showed me his adaptation of Hybrid IV, and most congenially told me that I could “fool around with it”, when studio-time allowed. Such a time obviously had to wait for a vacation…
Another was Warren Burt who, in between emitting strange sounds, was untiring in revealing some “secret” patches…
Other possibilities presented themselves at this fascinating place, then run by Roger Reynolds. The Extended Vocal Techniques Group traversed nimbly what I had believed to be vocal boundaries. Yes, it was like an unclouded sky with many, many visible stars to wonder at.
Those six weeks passed quickly. I wrote a Pastorale for four instruments for a forthcoming concert tour, and sketched an orchestral piece. Both of these were far from being experiments as an Icelandic “brrr” (befitting the season at home) was far from the people saying ”Have a nice day” with sunny smiles at La Jolla – which goes to show that even the most commonplace expression for them could be an experiment in behavior for someone like
me.
I am no typist, but I was drawn to Kobrin’s teletype.
On Good Friday, everyone had left the Center for Easter vacation. I should be returning home in four days. Sitting there, all alone, admiring all the paraphernalia from the computer to the 4-channel tape recorder, all my grand plans about how I was going to use the day slowly disintegrated. They were replaced by something else: mysterious and beautiful harmonies filled my head. They came and they went. I was in tune with Kepler! A true and wondrous inspiration.
However, I soon discovered its source. It was not of divine origin. Outside the studio doors, an old janitor was just using the opportunity, when nobody was around, to wax the floors with his machine. They were creating this din.
What followed, can be heard on this record, with one modification – the four channels are compressed into two.
– Thorkell Sigurbjönsson"
https://musicalobservations.bandcamp.com/album/thorkell-sigurbj-rnsson-la-jolla-good-friday