Runway – by Hildur I. Guðnadóttir

This piece was composed for the Caput chamber ensemble. It is inspired by and based on airplanes, runways and aviation communication. The setup of the piece is designed for a large space, moving live acoustic surround sound, lights and a light conducting aviation-based systems-designed and built specially for this occasion.

The piece was conceived in close cooperation with artist Elín Hansdóttir.

Music for Airports 2/2 – by Brian Eno
Arranged for brass sextet by Hildur Guðnadóttir

Music for Airports was first released in 1978 and therefore celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. It was the first of four records on Eno’s record label, Ambient. As Brian Eno said in 1978, “Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” This way of musical thinking would later inspire countless numbers of musicians all over the world, and has now made “ambient music” a household term.

Music for Airports was originally designed to be an ongoing looped sound installation to soothe the otherwise tense atmosphere at airports. Eno conceived the idea after being stuck at the Cologne Bonn Airport, an airport he found incredibly beautiful, but he is said to have been greatly annoyed by “the uninspired sound atmosphere”. Hildur’s arrangement is true to the original album version, although it adds the breath of brass and the special acoustic surround setup.