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Deutsche Grammophon is proud to release the world premiere recording of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s A Prayer to the Dynamo. This major orchestral work was inspired in general by the composer’s fascination with technology, and in particular by field recordings he made at Iceland’s Elliðaár power plant and the writings of Henry Adams.
It is paired on this new album with two suites compiled and arranged by the composer from existing material drawn from his Academy Award-nominated scores for Sicario and The Theory of Everything, also recorded here for the first time.
A Prayer to the Dynamo was written in response to a commission from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. It received its first, and so far only performance at the orchestra’s New Music Festival on 3 February 2012. As noted by the festival’s curator, composer Matthew Patton, it represented a turning-point in Jóhannsson’s career, having been written without any of the narrative constraints involved in composing for film. “He never wrote a piece for orchestra this big, this long, and with this much freedom.” This recording will turn a much-deserved spotlight on to a work Patton has described as a “lost symphony” and introduce it to audiences worldwide.
Tracklist
1. A Prayer to the Dynamo: Part I
2. A Prayer to the Dynamo: Part II
3. A Prayer to the Dynamo: Part III
4. A Prayer to the Dynamo: Part IV
5. Suite from The Theory of Everything: I. A Model of the Universe
6. Suite from The Theory of Everything: II. Domestic Pressures
7. Suite from The Theory of Everything: III. The Origins of Time
8. Suite from The Theory of Everything: IV. Forces of Attraction
9. Suite from The Theory of Everything: V. Cambridge, 1963
10. Suite from Sicario: I. Target
11. Suite from Sicario: II. Desert Music
12. Suite from Sicario: III. Melancholia