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"Substance, excitement and rigour"
The Independent

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Phantom Limb continues its new soundtrack imprint Geist im Kino with the release of Austrian composer Bernhard Schimpelsberger’s powerful, yearning score to Swedish ballet production Glansvit.

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Written in 1883 by Swedish writer Alfhid Agrell, Glansvit tells the tragedy of a beautiful white reindeer borne into a black reindeer tribe. Condemned to a life of persecution and imprisonment, the white reindeer - Glansvit - eventually succumbs to her heartache and takes her own life. This story of equality and discrimination - still hauntingly evocative and relevant today - was commissioned for a performance in 2018 by Sweden’s Norrdans dance company. Norrdans hired Spanish choreographer Jose Agudo and Austrian percussionist and composer Bernhard Schimpelsberger to realise the production.

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Bernhard Schimpelsberger’s compositions for strings, percussion and voice offer a fascinating interpretation of the tenderness, intensity and sadness within the story. He writes “I wanted to create a sound world that was multi layered and colourful. The layers are related to Glansvit’s personally. She was a princess with stunning beauty. Yet she was radical freedom fighter who decided to commit suicide as a protest to her imprisonment.” Inspired by the natural beauty of remote northern Sweden - its icy blues and whites, and the dancing of the Northern Lights - Schimpelsberger worked closely with the dance production throughout his compositional process, travelling to Sweden on numerous occasions over the 18 months of writing.