POEMS: A Journey Bringing Icelandic Poetry into Music

POEMS Began with Improvisation Sessions

The story of POEMS began quite naturally during the COVID period. At the time, Viktor Orri Árnason would often invite artists to play music and improvise together in search of new ideas.

One day, Álfheiður brought along collections of poetry that held special meaning for her. The two began experimenting with setting the poems to music, and from those initial experiments, POEMS gradually took shape.

Initially, the project was conceived as an album, and most of it was recorded at Viktor’s studio in Berlin. But as the project developed, they began to consider a different approach: instead of simply telling the stories of Icelandic poetry in the studio, why not bring the music back to the very places connected to the poets?

That idea opened the door to a journey across Iceland.

When the Music Returned to Where the Poems Began

Viktor and Álfheiður set out on the journey, performing at locations connected to the lives of the poets, meeting their families, and discovering the stories behind each work.

From the initial idea of a live performance video, the project gradually developed into the film POEMS - A Journey Through Icelandic Poetry.

What makes it distinctive is that the music is not separated from the place where it is performed. Wooden houses, open spaces, and glacial landscapes each carry their own sound and atmosphere. When the performances are recorded live in these locations, the spaces themselves become part of the recording.

For Viktor, recording therefore is not simply the process of capturing what has been performed. It becomes part of the creative process.

Taking the Studio Along for the Journey

To pursue this approach, Viktor needed a system compact enough to travel with while still allowing him to maintain control over the recording in very different environments.

Two Neumann MT 48 units were linked to provide four recording channels and became the heart of the system. Viktor used a Neumann U 67 for vocals, a pair of KM 184 microphones for the string quartet, and combined the KM 184 with the Neumann MCM when recording piano and pump organ.

Instead of bringing along a complex recording system, Viktor worked with a relatively limited number of channels. This made Microphone selection, mic placement, and decisions made at the time of recording even more important.

Without a fixed control room, the Neumann monitoring headphones NDH 20 helped him check the recordings directly on location, from balance and depth to noise.

At the end of each day, Viktor listened back to what had been recorded, selected takes, and created a quick mix. What they heard from the previous day could even influence how the group continued to perform and record the following day.

When the Location Becomes Part of the Recording

One of the most memorable moments of the journey took place in front of a glacier. Viktor had prepared for the common challenges of outdoor recording, such as wind, noise, and difficult-to-control environmental conditions. But when the recording began, the surroundings were unexpectedly quiet.

The vast landscape contrasted with the intimate sound captured in the performance. The location also held personal significance for Álfheiður, making the moment more than simply an outdoor recording session.

This is also the SPIRIT that runs throughout POEMS: music, poetry, and place do not exist separately, but come together to tell a story.

After the journey, one of the things that surprised Viktor was that they really did not need that much equipment to complete the project. A small system, a limited number of channels, and reliable tools could still accompany the entire process from performance to recording.

POEMS is therefore not only a journey that brings Icelandic poetry into music, but also a journey that brings the music back to the landscapes that shaped their stories.

Source: Neumann Newsroom - Recording POEMS: Viktor Orri Árnason in Conversation