Jóhann Jóhannsson - A Prayer to the Dynamo

A Closer Listen

Hearing new music from Jóhann Jóhannsson is a bittersweet honor; we never know when it will be the last.  A debt of gratitude goes to Daniel Bjarnason, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the sublime imprint Deutsche Grammophon for sharing this treasure.  The suite is “inspired by “field recordings the artist made at Iceland’s Elliðaár power plant and the writings of Henry Adams.”  The title refers to The Education of Henry Adams, in which the Virgin Mary is contrasted with the “dynamo” of technology and its “anarchic energies,” more specifically Adams’ poem Prayer to the Dynamo.  One might extrapolate a concern with the growing Icelandic conflicts between unfettered nature and utility encroachment.

While “A Prayer to the Dynamo” is paired with suites from Jóhannsson’s scores to Sicario and The Theory of Everything, the newly unveiled work is the main attraction here.  At 39 minutes, the piece is long enough to have been presented on its own, although the concert would have been too short.  The composition unfolds in four movements that gain momentum as they progress.  Immediately one is able to make connections to the composer’s earlier work, as the precision of strings is laid across a bed of soft, insistent drone, two forces in conflict, awaiting resolution.  As the brass enters, one recalls Virðulegu Forsetar and The Miners’ Hymns: nobility in the midst of morass.  The harpsichord ending of “Part 1” provides an elegant dynamic contrast, leading to chimes in the opening minute of “Part 2,” evoking the Virgin Mary.  Have we come too far, too fast?  

Distant drum rolls like thundering hooves appear midway through “Part 2,” followed by the suite’s first great crescendo.  A storm is building, and can be heard as the music retracts briefly at the end.  Or are these field recordings of the power plant, music foreign to the environment, disrupting the neural pathways of creatures within its range?  The tension continues to build, with no release in sight, an unending cycle, a cyclone of desires and dissatisfactions.  Midway through “Part 3,” flutes imitate agitated birds, as major chords lift the composition to yet another peak.

“Part 4” begins with low brass and subterranean rumbles.  Keyboards and chimes offer hints of hope, or at least reconciliation, as displaced flocks continue to swirl.  Some questions will never be answered.  Some tensions will never be resolved.  “A Prayer” to the Dynamo” is an encouragement for those who continue to fight; we only wish that Jóhannsson were here to fight alongside us.  For the duration of this composition, we can imagine that he is.  (Richard Allen)

Available here