Hear the Echoes Interview with Ólafur Arnalds in the Echoes Podcast
Ólafur Arnalds’ For Now I Am Winter
There is an emerging generation of artists who are positing the first new movement in classical music since 1970s minimalism: Ambient Chamber Music. It mixes classical orchestrations with electronic sounds, but couches them all in gorgeous, often heart-rending melodies and an atmosphere that envelopes you, unlike a lot of neo-classical music. Artists like Ludovico Einaudi, Hilmar Orn Hilmarrson and Max Richter are at the leading edge, but there’s a growing younger generation that includes Dustin O’Halloran, Johnann Johannsson, Kevin Keller and leading the pack, Ólafur Arnalds. His latest album, For Now I Am Winter was the Echoes CD of the Month in April. During an Echoes living room concert we sat down to talk about his winter soundscapes. You can hear that interview in the Echoes Podcast.
Olafur Arnalds band & John Diliberto
Ólafur on Alicia Keys piano: It’s a really, it’s so polished.
Arnór Dan Arnarson on his heavy metal reputation: It sounds so aahhhh!
Ólafur on Arnarson’s lyrics: When we were doing demos and just writing the vocal melodies in my studio, we didn’t have any lyrics yet, so Arnor would just sing jibberish, just go [jibbering] and then we got so addicted to those vowels because we had listened to it so many times, that when he started writing the lyrics he consciously tried to find words that rhymed with the vowels that we had previously used because they just felt so natural to the music.
Ólafur on silence: I think silence is just as much music as not.
Here’s a dreamy video of my favorite song from the album, “Only the Winds.”
~John Diliberto (((echoes)))
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Tags: Ambient Chamber Music, Iceland, Ludovico Einaudi, Neo-Classical, Olafur Arnalds
The Echoes Blog 
February 17, 2021 at 2:46 am |
A very good sum about the contemporary scene. Although I have to say, i have not been seeing any other names than the ones above, and it disappoints me a bit. There is so much going on in the scene of modern classical. There are so many other artists. I am sure you have more to tell and I would be interested to know. I am in search for new sounds in classical modern. Just discovered one from Germany actually. Have a look at “Time” by Luis Paul. Not as impressive as the sounds by the artists above, but it is good. And since you liked Only the winds, I think you might like Time as well..