The Geyser Erupts (BBC Radio 3)
A music documentary from BBC Radio 3 in the United Kingdom experiences the vast sonic eruptions of the 'original' geyser at Geysir, Iceland and introduces works by Jón Leifs portraying his nation's unique landscape.
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| Geysir Erupting (Wikipedia Creative Commons) |
For more than a millennium, Iceland's composers have drawn upon the sounds of its unique geology: sounds created in a glacial, geothermal landscape like nowhere else on earth. Searing water explodes from fissures; the earth steams spongily underfoot; vast, electric-blue hunks of solid ice crack and collide as they bob down otherwise silent fjords. Yet Iceland's classical music tradition remains barely known. This week, Donald Macleod explores the landscapes and vistas of the world's most northerly island nation to discover its unique musical culture.
Jón Leifs' symphonic poem "Geysir" portrays the awe-inspiring geothermal eruption of one of his nation's most famous natural wonders. Donald Macleod pays a visit to Geysir to introduce Leifs' own highly-imaginative musical explosion.
