Born in 1979, Daníel Bjarnason is one of Iceland’s most versatile exports. A leading composer, conductor and pianist, he’s well-known for blurring the lines between classical, ambient and post-rock music, though his works for orchestra fall definitively into the first of those categories. His work as artist-in-collaboration with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra has won him worldwide acclaim, including as an imaginative curator, while important compositions include the violin concerto Scordatura, the 2010 album Processions and the opera Brothers.

As an in-demand international conductor, Bjarnason works regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and is a noted champion of his homeland’s finest composers, including the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, Anna Thorvaldsdottir and María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir. Most recently he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra for Rosalía’s award-winning, genre spanning album Lux. As a member of the Bedroom Community collective, he collaborates with fellow Icelanders, from Sigur Rós to Víkingur Ólafsson.

This album, comprising three substantial works, is a representative sample of his recent large-scale compositions, a riot of imagination and orchestral colour. The opener...