Orphée
His first record for Deutsche Grammophon: the Orpheus myth, numbers stations and a move from Copenhagen to Berlin.
Jóhann Jóhannsson, 2016
- Released
- 16 September 2016
- Recorded
- 2009-2016
- Studio
- AIR Studios, Lyndhurst Hall, London; Sct. Lukas Kirke and Danmarks Radio, Copenhagen; studios in Copenhagen, Berlin and Reykjavík
- Label
- Deutsche Grammophon
- Producer
- Jóhann Jóhannsson
- Length
- 46:26
Six years in the making, it drew on Ovid's and Cocteau's versions of the Orpheus story and on Cold War shortwave numbers stations. Jóhannsson called it an oblique reflection on personal change, written while he left an old life in Copenhagen and built a new one in Berlin. He told Flood the record became a sort of diary, and that the myth is very much about borders and crossing thresholds. Strings were recorded at AIR Studios in London, the pipe organ in a Copenhagen church and the choir, Theatre of Voices under Paul Hillier, at Danmarks Radio.
It scored 79 on Metacritic. AllMusic's Heather Phares gave it four and a half stars and Pitchfork 7.5, while Kate Molleson in the Guardian admired the arrangements but missed any compelling drama. NPR's Mark Mobley pointed it to fans of Philip Glass, Michael Nyman and Arvo Pärt. Rolling Stone placed it eleventh among the best avant albums of 2016, and it reached four on the UK classical artist albums chart and six on Billboard's Top Classical Albums. A tenth-anniversary vinyl edition is due in October 2026.
Track listing
- Flight from the City6:31
- A Song for Europa2:33
- The Drowned World2:20
- A Deal with Chaos2:05
- A Pile of Dust4:51
- A Sparrow Alighted Upon Our Shoulder2:27
- Fragment I1:24
- By the Roes, and by the Hinds of the Field2:38
- The Radiant City3:31
- Fragment II2:12
- The Burning Mountain2:45
- De Luce et Umbra2:28
- Good Morning, Midnight3:17
- Good Night, Day3:57
- Orphic Hymn3:27
Personnel
- Jóhann Jóhannsson piano, electronics, pipe organ, electric organs; producer
- Hildur Guðnadóttir cello
- ACME string quartet, with Yuki Numata Resnick (violin), Ben Russell (viola) and Clarice Jensen (cello)
- Lyndhurst Orchestra strings, conducted by Anthony Weeden
- Theatre of Voices choir, conducted by Paul Hillier
- Francesco Donadello, Geoff Foster, Mette Due, Preben Iwan, Ívar Ragnarsson engineers
- Christian Badzura executive producer, Deutsche Grammophon
- Anders Ladegaard artwork
More from Jóhann Jóhannsson
IBM 1401, A User's Manual (2006), Fordlândia (2008)
Sources
- Orphée (album), Wikipedia
- Orphée (00289 479 6021), Discogs
- Jóhann Jóhannsson releases Orphée September 16, Universal Music Canada (2016-07-18)
- The Dark Night: Jóhann Jóhannsson on Orphée, FLOOD (2016-12-02)
- Review: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Orphée, NPR (2016-09-08)