Music is present in the work of Hreinn Fridfinnsson. By this I do not mean specific musical references, like the burning harp in the piece By the Roadside. Nor do I wish to suggest that his art expresses emotions in a way similar to music. To clarify, I need to say a few words about music as a phenomenon.

It is the nature of music that it only exists when performed. As soon as a note is struck it begins to die and when a piece begins, it inevitably must end. The composer may strive to reinforce the structural aspects of his work - armed with rationality and concepts of form - but nothing can alter the fact that music is as transient as life itself; it is while it is, and then that's that.

Not so in art. A piece that one sees on Monday is exactly the same on Tuesday, a week after, or a year later. No matter how often a work of art is interpreted it can still be approached in its place, unbudged. And long after one stops looking, it still exists. Artwork occupies its physical space but music disappears just as it has been heard. Its essence is impermanence and it creates a reality that is unreal.

Music itself may seem insubstantial in the face of reality, but as we listen to a piece it is as if everything changes. When the final note has fallen silent, however, we see that such change is illusory. Reality is as it was although we may wonder about it while we are listening and even after a piece ends. All remains unchanged except perhaps us, ourselves.

Music is present in the work of Hreinn Fridfinnsson, and by this I mean that the essence of his art is the impermanence that comes with time's passing and that he shows us reality that is unreal. He shows us reality in an unexpected light but we know that nothing has changed. Except us, ourselves. We wonder...

Snorri Sigfus Birgisson, Composer