Jóhann Jóhannsson, Echo Collective

Is the creative process fundamentally the same for the composer writing music as it is for the visual artist painting a picture? Jóhann Jóhannsson and the Berlin based painter Thilo Heinzmann explored this profound question throughout a four year dialogue. The musical result is a twelve movement string quartet that considerably stands out among Jóhannsson’s multiple award winning works. Jóhannsson was “obsessed with the texture of sound”, regularly bending the barriers between classical and electronic music. With his eclectic style, he created hypnotically lyrical images of outstanding refinement. The delicacy and beauty of Jóhannsson’s puristic string quartet writing in 12 Conversations reveals what could be referred to as the essence of his sound.