New ASO Work Inspired By Icelandic Cliffs, Tybee Island
The Icelandic beach Reynisfjara was one of the unique locales that inspired Michael Kurth’s ”A Thousand Words.”
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On the southern coast of Iceland, there’s a beach called Reynisfjara. Mangled pillars of rock weather continuous crashes of frigid ocean water. Black sand shores give way to strange basalt cliffs. It’s the kind of place that leaves an impression.
For Atlanta Symphony Orchestra double bassist and composer Michael Kurth, that impression was distinctly sinister.
“It feels like … a Bond villain would have his lair there,” Kurth said.
In Kurth’s mind, that menace and majesty of the place formed a musical impression, which he’s included in an ambitious new piece commissioned by Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Kurth told Lois Reitzes that this new work – called “A Thousand Words” – is “associated with places I’ve visited,” like Iceland’s Reynisfjara, Georgia’s Tybee Island and the Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama. Kurth stresses that his musical ideas ares not a translation of what these places looked like; instead, they’re “sounds inspired by places I’ve been.”
The world premiere of “A Thousand Words” is Thursday at Symphony Hall, with an encore performance Saturday evening at 8 p.m.
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