heit tár fullu…

for saxophone quartet

about

"I remember reading H. C. Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen as a child and being deeply moved by it. The story is about a boy and a girl who love each other very much, but when splinters of a magic mirror made by the Devil himself get into the boy's eye and heart, he starts to see all great and beautiful things as small and hideous while his heart turns to a lump of ice.

The Snow Queen takes the boy away to her icy palace, and the girl sets out on a long and arduous journey to find him again. When she finally does, she cries hot tears that make their way into the boy's frozen heart and thaw it. That passage gives this piece its title:

Heit tár fullu á bringu hansara og funnu sær veg inn í hjartað.

Hot tears fell on his breast and penetrated into his heart."

— Eli Tausen á Lava

acknowledgements

heit tár fullu… was premiered on 9 May 2023 by Viridian Sax Quartet at Provincetown Playhouse, New York, NY, USA.

composition year

2023

duration

9′ 30″

Instrumentation

Soprano Saxophone

Alto Saxophone

Tenor Saxophone

Baritone Saxophone