(b. 1961 at Sandur – the Faroe Islands)

Sunleif Rasmussen has written music for choir and lots of different ensembles as well as several large orchestral works. A characteristic feature of his instrumentation is that he often combines electronics or tapes with more traditional instruments or singers. Rasmussen’s choral music may be separated into two general groups: 1) through-composed works characterized by a complex structure and 2) simpler works such as traditionals scored for choir. Most of his choral music was written with poems in Faroese, and the music also incorporates the song tradition of the Faroe Islands. It should be mentioned here that Rasmussen does not only write Faroese music; his repertoire also comprises music with lyrics in Danish and Latin.

Sunleif Rasmussen’s instrumental music is very often accompanied by a title, e.g. the music may illustrate phenomena or incidents outside itself. Here nature is his central source of inspiration. In this respect the fact that he grew up on the Faroe Islands was of the greatest significance, as the music very often may illustrate Faroese or north Nordic nature. Rasmussen grew up in an island community, and consequently the stormy North Atlantic Ocean is very important for his works – this is evident in his Symphony No. 1 (”Oceanic Days”). There is also a close connection between the musical idioms and the movement techniques in his works. Rasmussen makes use of a special technique that arranges the individual components in minute details in order to express a complex musical idiom as an analogy to the complexity of nature e.g. DNA.

Literature is also one of his sources of inspiration, especially the Faroese poet William Heinesen who writes in Danish and is amajor cultural force on the Faroe Islands. Sunleif Rasmussen has also written music for several poems of his.

Rasmussen’s compositional style is characterized by a doctrine of economy: his basis is very often a tiny motif – or an ”embryo” – from which the music may be materialized. This applies to most of his works, including parts of the choral music. In this way a kind of serialism can be traced in his compositions.

Lately his personal compositional style has been characterized by theories about form; theories which are being researched at IRCAM in Paris. This goes under the term of spectral music. The theories are combined with a research into the Faroese tradition: by means of technical procedures he incorporates old folk tunes as central structures in his music. Thus his compositional style is characterized by a combination of different compositional techniques, be it old as well as new. With certain reservations it may be suitable to call Sunleif Rasmussen a postmodern composer.

Source: www.samfundet.dk

Read also Hans Pauli Tórgard's article on Sunleif Rasmussen!