Virus All Is Full of Love Björk jörk is an Icelandic singer and songwrit- names” are patronymics that typically change Ber who has shown remarkable staying with each generation to reflect the name of a power since gaining widespread attention in person’s father. Björk’s full name with pat- the late 1980s as lead singer of the alterna- ronymic is Björk Guðmundsdóttir, denoting tive rock band The Sugarcubes. The Icelan- “Björk daughter of Guðmund.” Growing up, dic group was short-lived — it was formed she completed the full 10-year course of the in 1986, released its first acclaimed album Barnamúsíkskóli Reykjavíkur, the oldest and in 1988, and disbanded in 1992 — but it in- most distinguished music school in her coun- spired international enthusiasm in those try (which boasts an unusual density of music few years, thanks in no small part to Björk’s schools). As a student she studied piano and extraordinary vocal variety and expressive- flute, and by the time she graduated, in 1980, ness. She continued as a solo artist, and in she had developed strong interests in jazz, 1993 she released her first solo recording, ap- minimalism, and avant-garde experimental- propriately titled Debut. It would be the first ism, in addition to classical music. But asked of nine albums to date, the most recent being to pinpoint influences in her musical style, Utopia, from 2017. Björk insists that her inspiration is not limit- Her discography has met with extraordi- ed to the work of earlier musicians. She told a nary success. Several of her albums have fig- Brazilian reporter in 1996: ured within the Top 20 in the Billboard charts, more than 30 of her singles have qualified for I’m influenced by everything, by books, international best-seller lists, and in 2015 it by the weather, by the water, by my shoes, was reported that her total record sales to date if they’re comfortable or not. Everything. fell somewhere in the range of 20 to 40 mil- [Some] of it is music, but I think it is very lion units worldwide. In the course of her ca- important with people who are dealing reer, her music-making has traveled through with making music that they are not only many styles, including punk rock, jazz fusion, influenced by music. ... It should be be- alternative rock, electro-pop, EDM (electronic yond style, beyond influence, it should be dance music), and IDM (intelligent dance mu- about pure emotion, and real life. sic). Her songs have drawn from an eclectic array of other repertoires, from the jazz of Ella Fitzgerald to the traditional musics of Iceland, In Short Greenland, Bulgaria, China, and Central Africa. Born: November 21, 1965, in Reykjavík, Iceland Asked about musical influences, she told her Resides: in Reykjavík biographer Mark Pytlik: Works composed and premiered: Virus, If I were to say who influenced me most, I in 2011; All Is Full of Love, 1997; both songs orchestrated by Hans Ek in 2016 would say people like Stockhausen, Kraft- werk, Brian Eno, and Mark Bell. New York Philharmonic premieres: these performances Family surnames do not traditionally fea- Estimated durations: Virus, ca. 4 minutes; ture in the Icelandic language. Instead, “last All Is Full of Love, ca. 3 minutes FEBRUARY 2020 | 30A In addition to singing, Björk has had an All Is Full of Love is the closing track from acting career, appearing in The Juniper Tree her 1997 album Homogenic. The album was (1990) and Dancer in the Dark (2000). For in general an homage to Iceland and Norse the latter, which was written and directed by mythology, although Björk created much of Lars von Trier, she composed and produced it while living in Málaga, Spain, where she the musical score, and was awarded the Best reported that she was specifically inspired Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for for this song by hearing birdsongs during a her performance. morning walk in April. It therefore concluded Virus appeared on Björk’s 2011 album Bio- the rather dark album on a hopeful note. philia, in which the songs relate to nature. This is a love song, but the nature metaphor Instrumentation: Virus calls flute and pic- she employs is not a traditionally sunny colo, oboe and English horn, clarinet and one. Instead, it views a love relationship in bass clarinet, bassoon and contrabassoon, terms of biological synergy, as a sort of par- two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, asitic attack of one organism on another — tuba, timpani, crotales, marimba, orches- a liaison that encompasses both inevitable tra bells, vibraphone, finger cymbals, sizzle attraction and mutual destruction. In part, cymbal, large and small bass drums, harp, the song relates to Björk’s own experience celesta, and strings, in addition to the solo of being afflicted with candidiasis, a fungal soprano. All Is Full of Love employs flute and infection of the mouth and throat. “It’s like I piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, bassoon have this new neighbor that I have to sort of (doubling contrabassoon), four horns, three learn to live with,” she said. “And obviously trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, you know this fungus is inside all of us and crotales, marimba, large cymbal, finger cym- it’s never about eliminating it. You have to bals, sizzle cymbal, bass drum, harp, celesta, kind of just live with it.” and strings, in addition to the solo soprano. Polar Parallels The arrangements of Björk songs performed here were made by Hans Ek (b. 1964 in Uppsala, Sweden), who has orchestrated and conducted music for numerous films and has arranged popular music for concert use. He has repeatedly worked as music direc- tor for the Polar Music Prize, a Swedish award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson (manager of the band ABBA) and given each year to one classical and one “contemporary” musician. As it happens, both Björk and Renée Fleming have been recipients, the former in 2010, the latter in 2008. Fleming said of Björk: Her originality is breathtaking. She just blazes her own path for- ward. … Björk’s openness of expression, and the creative col- oring of her voice, the text and instrumentation, create a style that is uniquely hers. Björk, in a photoshoot for the album Biophilia, which included the song Virus 30B | NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC Text Bjork’s Virus and All Is Full of Love Bjork’s Virus Bjork’s All Is Full of Love Like a virus needs a body You'll be given love As soft tissue feeds on blood You'll be taken care of Some day I'll find you, the urge is here You'll be given love You have to trust it Like a mushroom on a tree trunk As the protein transmutates Maybe not from the sources I knock on your skin, and I am in You have poured yours Maybe not from the directions The perfect match, you and me You are staring at I adapt, contagious You open up, say welcome Twist your head around It's all around you Like a flame that seeks explosives All is full of love As gunpowder needs a war All around you I feast inside you, my host is you All is full of love The perfect match, you and I You just ain't receiving You fail to resist All is full of love My crystalline charm Your phone is off the hook All is full of love Like a virus, patient hunter Your doors are all shut I'm waiting for you, I'm starving for you All is full of love! My sweet adversary All is full of love, all is full of love My sweet adversary All is full of love, all is full of love My sweet adversary FEBRUARY 2020 | 31.