Articles about 'Isens Fasor'

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sound world
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Articles about 'Isens Fasor'

Post by sound world »

I've been trawling the Swedish Newspaper database during lockdown, translating many of the articles using Google, and I came across a set of articles about 'Isens Fasor' (Horrors of the Ice), the story of a joint Austro-Italian expedition to the Arctic, which Stina both narrated and wrote original music for in 2003.
By the way, if you haven't heard it, it's riveting (but you'll need a translation from the Swedish to hand unless you're a native speaker. Oh - and you'll need the original soundfile too. :mrgreen: Ask nicely!) Stina is a brilliant narrator.

Before it was broadcast on the radio, there was a public 'performance' of the broadcast at Elverket, along with another radio piece, "The Night Watch" narrated by Krister Henriksson. The whole programme at Elverket was called 'Death In The Night'.

It was rumoured (see below) that Stina might make an appearance at the event. :shock:

It reminded me that, back in the days of the old CQD website, someone (can't remember who) went along to it in the hope of seeing Stina in the flesh - and he/she was not alone....
Now read on - the last article is quite funny. :mrgreen:

Svensk dagbladet, 22/11/03
Tonight at Elverket, there is a public hearing of the radio drama "Horrors of the Ice”, directed by the performance artists Bogdan Szyber and Carina Reich. Stina Nordenstam, who also wrote the music, will be in the audience, and on the recording as a narrator / singer.
Have you worked with text reading before?
(Stina) - No, it was Bogdan and Carina who asked me. I didn't know them before, but they thought the theme would suit me. The text by Peder Bjurman is based on diary notes from a North Pole expedition in 1872-74 that froze inside. The crew was mostly Italian, unaccustomed to the sea. The captain tries to keep their spirits up even though the ship is beset.
What in the subject captures you?
- The journey and their vulnerability, the darkness and the isolation. It is a moving text.
Could you have done this on stage?
- No, there are different things. In the studio you can edit, find atmosphere. One goes inward rather than outward. I wanted something to read the text to and found the sound of melting ice.
Does the text affect you?
- Yes, I end up in a kind of chemical state when I read, a change of reality. The feeling goes back to my music. It is easy to get into but difficult to leave when leaving the studio. The downside of this is that there is a risk of losing yourself.
What are you doing now?
- I have finished a record and started my own company. The licensing agreements have taken some time, but it is on track and will be out early next year.
"The Horrors of the Ice" and "The Night Watch" (with Krister Henriksson) will be given at Elverket on 22 and 29 November at 22.
(ANNA ÅNGSTRÖM)

(another article...)
SCENE
It's not often Stina Nordenstam shows up in public. But now she does at Elverket tomorrow, 22nd November. There "Death in the night" is performed. There are two headliners directed by Carina Reich and Bogdan Szyber: "The Night Watch" with Krister Henriksson's voice, and "The Horrors of the Ice", read by Stina Nordenstam who also has written the music. Listen to the works together with Henriksson and Nordenstam - absolutely free. The soundpieces are also performed next Saturday.

(another article...)
The cold of the North Pole blows into the radio.
Captivating premiere tonight.

REVIEW RADIOTEATER
Isens Fasor Radio P1
It blows beautifully but with Arctic cold when Stina Nordenstam's newly composed music wins over the despair in the Arctic expanses. As the storm sings I imagine how King Bore (God of the North Wind, ed.) shapes notes with his mouth. Stina Nordenstam also narrates. In Carina Reich's and Bogdan Szyber's direction, she interprets Peder Bjurman's text inspired by a North Pole expedition conducted in 1872.
Austrian soldiers and Italian sailors set out to find the northeast passage to Asia. Already after a few weeks they got stuck and then sat in the grip of the ice for two years.
The "horrors of the ice" have a foundation of reality, but Peder Bjurman improvises freely around a conceivable scenario. Frozen, lonely, despairing and scurvy-ravaged people abandoned in an inferno of snow and ice. Two years is a horribly long time for those who cannot imagine anything but death in the ice.
Stina Nordenstam's voice tells of the longing for homes, about how the cold deforms the faces and limbs, about those who become half-mad about the stay in all the white, about the grief when the dogs kill the last cat - an animal act that gives clues as to what may have to come.
THE MUSIC FORMULATES FEAR
And sadly, Stina Nordenstam's voice is softly assertive, but with a slight lingering undertone of hope. In the tension between voice and sounds a closeness arises that completely catches my attention.
(PIA HUSS)

and one last article after the 'performance':

'We measure ... Stina Nordenstam at Elverket'
'With the senses on full range, we went to Elverket.
Next week... we will go elsewhere.

Graph of audience attendance:

STINA NORDENSTAM 0%
STINA FANS WHO WERE DISAPPOINTED 75%
STINA FANS SLEEPING 60%
STINA FANS DREAMING ABOUT A POWERCUT AT ELVERKET 45%

It was rumored that Stina Nordenstam would appear at "Death in the Night", two "hearings" performed at Elverket on Saturday.
Hundreds of fans queued to see her.
"The Night Watch" was about some damn river narrated, with an unbearably theatrical voice, by Krister Henriksson.
Whoever wants to can go along tomorrow to experience the millennium's biggest anti-climax.' :mrgreen:

RobB
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Re: Articles about 'Isens Fasor'

Post by RobB »

Thanks Dave for qnother very informative post.
I'll need to dig out the audio cassette of HOTI, I haven't listened to it in yonks.

Announcing Stina's presence in advance like that was always going to end in only one outcome. I'm quite surprised really that so many fans were so optimistic. :mrgreen:

Than again maybe she was there? Who would recognise her anyway? :mrgreen:

"What are you doing now?
- I have finished a record and started my own company. The licensing agreements have taken some time, but it is on track and will be out early next year."

In reality it took virtually another year for The World Is Saved to be released so even Stina was being a tad optimistic there. :wink:

pgss
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Re: Articles about 'Isens Fasor'

Post by pgss »

Isens Fasor is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1Fq9lRm-7AU

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