Jóhann Jóhannsson Explained

Jóhann Jóhannsson
Birth Name:Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson
Birth Date:1969 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Reykjavík, Iceland
Death Place:Berlin, Germany
Years Active:1987–2018

Jóhann Gunnar Jóhannsson (in Icelandic pronounced as /ˈjouːhan ˈjouːhansɔn/; 19 September 1969 – 9 February 2018) was an Icelandic composer who wrote music for a wide array of media including theatre, dance, television, and film. His work is stylised by its blending of traditional orchestration with contemporary electronic elements.[1]

Jóhann released solo albums from 2002 onward. In 2016, he signed with Deutsche Grammophon, through which he released his last solo album, Orphée. Some of his works in film include the original scores for Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, Sicario, and Arrival, and James Marsh's The Theory of Everything. Jóhannsson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for both The Theory of Everything and Sicario, and won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for the former. He was a music and sound consultant on Mother!, directed by Darren Aronofsky in 2017. His scores for Mary Magdalene and Mandy were released posthumously.

His only directorial work, Last and First Men, premiered at the Manchester International Festival in 2017, where he also performed the score live with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

Early life and career

Jóhann was born on 19 September 1969 in Reykjavík, Iceland, to Jóhann Gunnarsson, a maintenance engineer who worked for IBM, and Edda Thorkelsdóttir.[2] He learned the piano and trombone from the age of 11, but had given them up during his teenage years.[2] Jóhann attended the University of Iceland, where he studied languages and literature.[2]

Jóhann started his musical career in the late 1980s in the proto-shoegaze-influenced band Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, who released a couple of EPs which were played by British DJ John Peel and received a fan letter from Steve Albini. He went on to work as a guitarist and producer playing in Icelandic indie rock bands, like Olympia, Unun and HAM. In 1999, Jóhann co-founded Kitchen Motors;[3] a think tank, art organisation and music label that encouraged interdisciplinary collaborations between artists from punk, jazz, classical, metal and electronic music. His own sound arose out of these musical experimentations.[4]

Solo works

Jóhann's first solo album, Englabörn, was a suite based on the music written for the theatre piece of the same name. Jóhann approached the composition by recording string instruments and processing them through digital filters, which allowed him to deconstruct the recordings and reassemble them. The album combined holy minimalism, Satie, Purcell and Moondog with the electronic music of labels such as Mille Plateaux and Mego. Pitchfork gave Englabörn a score of 8.9, and described it as "exceptionally restrained, the piano moving like droplets off of slowly melting icicles, the violin breathing warmth from above. The hesitation of each breath and falling bead feels as though it were a Morton Feldman piece condensed to three minutes."[5]

For his second album, Virðulegu Forsetar, an hour-long ambient piece, Jóhann used an orchestra of 11 brass players, glockenspiel, piano and organ, with added bells and electronics, creating a sound that combined classical, ambient and experimental music.[6]

IBM 1401, A User's Manual, Jóhann's fourth studio album, was released on 30 October 2006 on the 4AD label. It was inspired by his father, an IBM engineer and one of Iceland's first computer programmers, who used early hardware to compose melodies during his downtime at work. Jóhann used sounds produced from the electromagnetic emissions of the IBM 1401 as part of the composition.[7]

Fordlandia, Jóhann's sixth full-length studio album, was released in November 2008 via 4AD, and was thematically influenced by the failure of Henry Ford's Brazilian rubber plant Fordlândia.[8]

In 2010, Jóhann collaborated with filmmaker Bill Morrison on The Miners' Hymns (2011), a film and accompanying composition for a brass band, pipe organ and electronics, based on coal-mining in County Durham. The film was noted for celebrating "social, cultural, and political aspects of the extinct industry, and the strong regional tradition of colliery brass bands".[9] The overall piece was itself a tribute to the miners strikes which occurred in the area during the 1980s. The piece premiered live in Durham Cathedral in July 2010 and was released on CD and DVD in May 2011. The album was described by the BBC as "a gorgeous brass-based requiem for northeast England's former mining community".[10] Writing in The Observer, Fiona Maddocks gave the London debut performance of the score at the Barbican five stars, writing, "The strange counterpoint between an Icelandic minimalist, an American filmmaker and a bitter episode in recent British history has resulted in a work as unclassifiable as it is unforgettable."[11]

In 2021 the Gold Dust EP was released, containing unused pieces from various previous projects.[12]

On 15th Sept 2023, the posthumous album Prayer to the Dynamo was released on Bandcamp. This contained suites from Sicario and The Theory of Everything and was performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.[13]

Film work

Jóhann had scored a number of works concurrent with his solo career through the 2000s including the Icelandic comedy Dis in 2004, TV series Svartir englar in 2007, and In the Arms of My Enemy in 2007. However it is his work with Denis Villeneuve for which he is best known. His first collaboration with Villeneuve was Prisoners in 2013. He subsequently worked on Villeneuve's films Sicario (2015), which was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Score, and Arrival (2016). Jóhann joined Villeneuve once again to work on Blade Runner 2049, but at some point during production Villeneuve decided that the music needed a change in direction.[14] In describing the artistic process for Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve stated that "the movie needed something different, and I needed to go back to something closer to Vangelis. Jóhann and I decided that I will need to go in another direction." Villeneuve brought in Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch to complete the project.[15] Jóhann's work on James Marsh's The Theory of Everything won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score in 2015.[15] His final works were for the films Mandy, The Mercy, and Mary Magdalene.[15] In an interview following the release of Arrival, Jóhann commented on his process stating that "it's about putting yourself in a receptive state of mind where you react to inputs, and it can be from anywhere. It doesn't really matter if you're writing for film or if you're doing your own piece; you always have to put yourself into that space." He went on to say, "there are practical parameters, of course, involved in writing film music rather than doing your own album, but I view them very much as the same body of work. And, for me, there are very clear lines for me between Englabörn to Arrival."

Prior to his death he had been hired to compose the score for Disney's Christopher Robin, but died before he had begun work on it.[16]

His only feature film directed by himself, Last and First Men, premiered two years after his death at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, where it received widespread acclaim.[17]

Collaborations and other projects

In March 2015, Jóhann teamed up with ACME (American Contemporary Music Ensemble) and the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth to perform Drone Mass. described as a contemporary oratorio, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[18] His list of collaborators included Tim Hecker, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Pan Sonic, CAN drummer Jaki Liebezeit, Marc Almond, Barry Adamson, and Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))). In 1999, Jóhann founded the Apparat Organ Quartet, which has released two albums since 2002 with live performances in Europe, America and Japan.[19]

Personal life

Jóhann left Reykjavík in the early 2000s, living in Copenhagen before settling in Kreuzberg, Berlin.[20] He had a daughter, Karolina Jóhannsdóttir, who lives in Copenhagen.[2] [21]

Jóhann died in Berlin on 9 February 2018 at the age of 48.[2] German toxicology reports indicated that a lethal combination of cocaine and flu medication was the likely cause of his death.[22]

Discography

Solo albums

Film score albums

Singles

Artworks

Plays

Contemporary dance

Filmography

Films

YearTitleDirectorNotes
2000Íslenski draumurinnRóbert Ingi Douglas[29]
Óskabörn þjóðarinnarJóhann Sigmarsson
2002A Man Like MeRóbert Ingi Douglas
2004DísSilja Hauksdóttir
2006Blóðbönd AKA Thicker than WaterÁrni Óli Ásgeirsson
2008Personal EffectsDavid Hollander
2010By Day and by NightAlejandro Molina
Dreams in CopenhagenMax Kestner
2011The Miners' HymnsBill Morrison
The Good LifeEva Mulvad[30]
2012For EllenSo Yong Kim
MysteryLou Ye
2013McCanickJohn C. Waller
PrisonersDenis Villeneuve
2014I Am Here (with BJNilsen)Anders Morgenthaler
Blind MassageLou Yewith Jonas Colstrup
The Theory of EverythingJames Marsh nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score
2015SicarioDenis Villeneuve nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score
2016LovesongSo Yong Kim
ArrivalDenis Villeneuve
2017Mother!Darren AronofskyUnused
Blade Runner 2049Denis VilleneuveUnused
2018MandyPanos Cosmatos
The MercyJames Marsh
Mary MagdaleneGarth Daviswith Hildur Guðnadóttir
Christopher RobinMarc ForsterIncomplete at time of death[31]
The Shadow PlayLou Yewith Jonas Colstrup[32]

Documentaries

YearTitleDirectorNotes
2012Free the MindPhie Ambo[33]
White BlackCamilla Magid[34]

Short films

YearTitleDirectorNotes
2003KeepsakeTim Shore[35]
2008VarmintsMarc Craste[36]
2011Junk LoveNikolaj Feifer[37]
2015End of SummerJóhann Jóhannsson

Television

YearTitleNetworkNotes
1999Corpus CameraStöð 2
2000Leyndardómar Íslenskra SkrímslaSjónvarpið
2000Erró- Norður, suður, austur, vesturStöð 2
2007Svartir Englar
2015TrappedRÚVwith Hildur Gudnadóttir and Rutger Hoedemaekers[38]
2016The OANetflix
2017The Handmaid's Tale "Faithful"Hulu

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jóhann Jóhannsson, Oscar-Nominated Composer, Dies at 48. 10 February 2018. Billboard.com. 11 February 2018. 11 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180211050550/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8099069/oscar-nominated-composer-johann-johannsson-dies-at-48. live.
  2. News: Johann Johannsson, Award-Winning Movie Composer, Dies at 48. Codrea-Rado. Anna. 12 February 2018. The New York Times. 14 February 2018. en-US. 0362-4331. 14 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180214001737/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/obituaries/johann-johannsson-award-winning-movie-composer-dies-at-48.html. live.
  3. Web site: Jóhann Jóhannsson Dead at 48. PitchFork. 10 February 2018. Blais-Billie, Braudie. Minsker, Evan. 11 February 2018. 10 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180210235315/https://pitchfork.com/news/johann-johannsson-dead-at-48/. live.
  4. Web site: History Of Jóhann: The Composer's Path Through The Reykjavík Scene. 9 September 2016. Grapevine.is. 12 February 2018. 22 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161022214837/http://grapevine.is/culture/music/2016/09/09/history-of-johann-the-composers-path-through-the-reykjavik-scene/. live.
  5. Web site: Jóhann Jóhann: Englabörn Album Review Pitchfork. pitchfork.com. 19 October 2016. 27 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161027070138/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4274-englaborn/. live.
  6. Web site: Virðulegu Forsetar. Johannjohannson.com. 11 February 2018. 12 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180212083426/http://www.johannjohannsson.com/discography/viroulegu-forsetar/. live.
  7. Web site: Jóhann Jóhannsson : IBM 1401, A User's Manual. www.ausersmanual.org. 19 October 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20161016172055/http://www.ausersmanual.org/. 16 October 2016. Inspired by a recording of an IBM mainframe computer which Jóhann's father, Jóhann Gunnarsson, made on a reel-to-reel tape machine more than 30 years ago, the piece was originally written to be performed by a string quartet as the accompaniment to a dance piece by the choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir. For the album version, Jóhann rewrote the entire score, and it was recorded by a sixty-piece string orchestra. He also added a new final section and incorporated electronics alongside those original tape recordings of the singing computer..
  8. Web site: Fordlandia. Allmusic.com. 12 February 2018. 12 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180212201615/https://www.allmusic.com/album/fordlandia-mw0000800536. live.
  9. Web site: FatCat Records. DOMH. FatCat Records. 19 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161020104942/https://www.fat-cat.co.uk/site/news/archives/2011/03. 20 October 2016. dead.
  10. Web site: BBC – Music – Review of Jóhann Jóhannsson – The Miners' Hymns. Grady. Spencer. 19 October 2016. 4 July 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170704144756/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/4mj9/. live.
  11. News: The Miners' Hymns review – a rich seam of music and mine. Maddocks. Fiona. 15 March 2014. The Guardian. en-GB. 0261-3077. 19 October 2016. 20 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161020045104/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/mar/16/the-miners-hymns-barbican-review-morrison-johansson. live.
  12. Web site: 10 August 2021. Jóhann Jóhannsson's Unreleased Songs Collected in New EP Gold Dust. 11 August 2021. Pitchfork. en-US.
  13. https://johannjohannsson.bandcamp.com/album/a-prayer-to-the-dynamo
  14. News: We Finally Know Why Jóhann Jóhannson Parted Ways with 'Blade Runner: 2049'. Haubrich. Wess. The 405. 24 February 2018. en. 17 March 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180317231825/https://www.thefourohfive.com/film/article/we-finally-know-why-johann-johannson-parted-ways-with-blade-runner-2049-150. dead.
  15. Web site: Arrival composer Jóhann Jóhannsson has died at the age of 48. 10 February 2018. Verge.com. 11 February 2018. 10 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180210232400/https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/10/16999228/johann-johannsson-composer-arrival-prisoners-sicario-blade-runner-2049-obituary. live.
  16. Johann Johannsson's Death Leaves Friends Shocked, Questions Unanswered . Roxborough . Scott . 14 February 2018 . 7 May 2018 . . . 16 February 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180216025302/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/johann-johannssons-death-leaves-friends-shocked-questions-unanswered-1084815 . live .
  17. Web site: Best & Worst Films at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival. Metacritic.
  18. Web site: Johann Johannsson-"Drone Mass" - Met Museum World Premiere. 7 May 2015. Popmatters.com. 10 February 2018. 11 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180211131148/https://www.popmatters.com/192549-johann-johannsson-drone-mass-met-museum-world-premiere-2495539037.html. live.
  19. Web site: Projects - Jóhann Jóhannsson. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110927155039/http://www.johannjohannsson.com/projects/. 27 September 2011. 11 February 2018. Johannjohannsson.com.
  20. News: Soundtrack Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson on Arrival, Sicario and The Theory of Everything . . 10 January 2017 . 12 February 2020 . Brimmers . Julian . 27 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191227235633/https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2017/01/johann-johannsson-feature/ . live .
  21. News: Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson dies . . 11 February 2018 . 12 February 2020 . Brimmers . Julian . 8 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210308024944/https://www.dw.com/en/icelandic-composer-johann-johannsson-dies/a-42534371 . live .
  22. News: The Music of 'Mandy': How Johann Johannsson Melded Horror With Heavy Metal . . 13 September 2018 . 12 February 2020 . Burlingame . Jon . 4 December 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191204232514/https://variety.com/2018/film/news/mandy-horror-movie-music-composer-johann-johannsson-heavy-metal-1202941577/ . live .
  23. Web site: Jóhann Jóhannsson. AllMusic. 10 February 2018. 11 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180211072222/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/j%C3%B3hann-j%C3%B3hannsson-mn0000807294/discography. live.
  24. Web site: Jóhann Jóhannsson: Orphée Album Review Pitchfork. pitchfork.com. 21 October 2016. 22 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161022021808/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22305-orphee/. live.
  25. Web site: Jóhann Jóhannsson's debut album Englabörn receives posthumous reissue with new remixes. factmag.com. 7 April 2018. 5 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180405235033/http://www.factmag.com/2018/02/27/johann-johannsson%E2%80%8F-album-englaborn-posthumous-reissue-remixes/. live.
  26. Web site: Questionnaire . www.thiloheinzmann.com .
  27. Web site: 28 January 2022. Jóhann Jóhannsson: 12 Conversations With Thilo Heinzmann. Pitchfork.
  28. Web site: Projects - Jóhann Jóhannsson. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20180211083722/http://www.johannjohannsson.com/film/. 11 February 2018. 11 February 2018. JohannJohannson.com.
  29. Web site: 10 February 2018. How Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson Helped Change the Genre Cinema Soundscape. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180211020515/http://variety.com/2018/film/columns/johann-johannsson-cinema-soundscape-1202694619/. 11 February 2018. 11 February 2018. Variety.com.
  30. Web site: Johann Johannsson. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180211072109/https://www.allmovie.com/artist/johan-johannsson-p518226. 11 February 2018. 10 February 2018. Allmovie.com.
  31. Web site: 14 February 2018. Johann Johannsson Death - Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180216025302/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/johann-johannssons-death-leaves-friends-shocked-questions-unanswered-1084815. 16 February 2018. 27 February 2018.
  32. Web site: The Shadow Play - Jonas Colstrup. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190903071200/http://jonascolstrup.com/works/the-shadow-play/. 3 September 2019. 3 September 2019. jonascolstrup.com.
  33. Web site: FREE THE MIND. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20180215074658/http://danishdocumentary.com/site/freethemind/. 15 February 2018. 11 February 2018. Danishdocumentary.com.
  34. Web site: White Black Boy. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180209204332/http://fonik.dk/film/whiteblackboy.html. 9 February 2018. 11 February 2018. Fonik.dk.
  35. Web site: Keepsake. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180212005032/http://film.britishcouncil.org/keepsake. 12 February 2018. 11 February 2018. Britishcouncil.org.
  36. Web site: STUDIO AKA: VARMINTS. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180211190040/http://www.studioaka.co.uk/go/varmints/. 11 February 2018. 11 February 2018. Studioaka.oco,uk.
  37. Web site: Junk Love -Filmagasinet Ekko. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171009024155/http://www.ekkofilm.dk/shortlist/film/junk-love/. 9 October 2017. 11 February 2018. ekkofilm.dk.
  38. Web site: 'Trapped' score wins Eddan Award. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20180212083453/http://www.johannjohannsson.com/27899-2/. 12 February 2018. 11 February 2018. JohannJohannsson.com.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jóhann Jóhannsson".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.