Intraloper is a long-form work for brass quartet, thundersheets, and live electronics that treats the ensemble as a fragile ecosystem held in unstable equilibrium. The quartet functions as a living system operating close to collapse, attempting to sustain activity under conditions that are possibly unsupportable. The piece was developed through workshops and dialogue with the members of Apparat. Musical material circulates through the ensemble in continuous processes of simulacrum, refraction, and displacement. Gestures pass from instrument to instrument, copied, distorted, and reabsorbed. Lines fold back onto themselves or reappear in altered form, forming chains of imitation reminiscent of molecular mimicry and biological evolution. Within this confined sonic environment, the distinction between individual voices becomes increasingly unstable. Sound propagates across the quartet as a shared field rather than as discrete instrumental lines. Growth persists, but only through mutation, interference, and accumulation. Thundersheets and live electronics extend the ensemble’s ecology outward. They introduce external pressures that disturb the internal balance of the quartet, producing zones of resonance and reflection through which the instruments must renegotiate their position. The work also draws on aspirational prayers in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, texts intended to guide the deceased through the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Unconcluded in language, the beginnings of two new invocations occur throughout the piece: “O, as I roam in cyclic existence driven by deep-seated reflection…”  “O, as I roam in cyclic existence driven by deep-seated infection…”

Live recording from premiere at Dark Music Days

INTRALOPER [2026] - APPARAT AT SPOR FESTIVAL (DK) 2026 © HELENA QUIST

Dark_music_days_Bergrun_4K_fin_265.00_18_36_05.Still007.jpg

INTRALOPER [2026] - APPARAT ENSEMBLE AT DARK MUSIC DAYS (IS) 2026 © SUNNA BEN

Reviews for Intraloper:

Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek for Seismograf

“The German brass quartet APPARAT gave the world premiere of Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir’s Intraloper. Behind the musicians hung metal sheets like silent co-performers. They answered back, set themselves in motion, vibrated and – together with electronics – added a raw, tearing resonance. In Harpa’s polished concert hall, the feeling of a temporary industrial warehouse emerged.

The balance was exact: the dry clicks of the valves stood naked before the full brass sonority cut through the space with physical weight. The sound was unadorned – deeply material, cold and wildly compelling.”

Amanda Cook for I Care If You Listen

“Some of the most impressionable moments of the festival were experimental works that came with little context, including Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir’s visceral and multi-sensory Intraloper. Walking into the hall, Apparat brass ensemble was bathed in ominous red light, shrouded in mist, and enveloped in hanging sheets of metal. After the lights went down, muted trumpet emerged from the white noise of the fog machine, and sputtering thumps of articulation came from trombone and tuba mouthpieces fully inside their players’ mouths.

As the quartet began to excavate something from deep inside the earth, their growing sound activated the metallic thunder sheets, first at a low roar, then at a buzzing rattle. The strategically delayed unsheathing of unmuted brass tone brought incredible power as the players were illuminated in stark white light. Inhalations and exhalations through the instruments sonically mapped their interiors, and the return to shimmering muted brass shifted the light to a warm golden hue. As the work kept us steeped in hushed sounds for prolonged periods of time, the moments that opened up were deeply satisfying and delivered a massive pay-off.”

Eva Yuki Mik for Reykjavík Grapevine

“One piece that keeps on reverberating long after its final note, is Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir’s Intraloper, premiered by brass ensemble APPARAT. Behind the musicians hang vibrating metal plates, illuminated by ominous red light. Before APPARAT even starts playing, the sound of vibrating metal already fills the space with suspense. Slowly the ensemble comes to life: snoring, whispering and stretching as if an organism is growing and pulsating in the room. The light switches to cold white and for the first time in the piece, the brass instruments fully utilise their sound. Sound continues to resonate through the metal sheets, even when the instruments are not playing. It is as if there is always something lurking behind the ensemble, a composition that happens in the margins.”

Tumi Árnason for RÚV:

“The best concert of the festival, in my opinion, was on Friday evening, when the German brass quartet APPARAT performed Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir’s Intraloper. During the piece, it almost felt as though we were experiencing something not meant for human perception, as if a gateway had been opened into another dimension. Using the instruments, she conjured utterly otherworldly sounds, which were amplified and sent through large metal plates hanging behind the performers.”

// “Einir bestu tónleikar hátíðarinnar að mínu mati voru svo á föstudagskvöldinu, þegar þýski málmblásarakvartettinn APPARAT flutti verk Bergrúnar Snæbjörnsdóttur, Intraloper. Á meðan verkinu stóð fannst mér næstum eins og við værum að upplifa eitthvað sem væri ekki ætlað mannlegri skynjun, eins og það hefði verið opnað hlið inn í aðra framandi vídd. Með hljóðfærunum framkallaði hún fullkomlega framandi hljóð, sem voru uppmögnuð og send í gegnum stórar málmplötur sem héngu fyrir aftan flytjendur.”

Arnar Eggert for www.arnareggert.is

“I went to Myrkir Músíkdagar yesterday and enjoyed listening to a new work by the very talented and well-known Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir. A new piece, Intraloper, was premiered, performed by the German brass quartet APPARAT together with Bergrún, who enhanced the electronics at selected moments.

You walked into the Norðurljós Hall at Harpa; it was quite dark inside, and the quartet sat center stage in cool lighting. Behind each player hung a kind of metal plate. There was a faint rumbling underneath everything as you entered, and you genuinely weren’t sure whether the piece had already begun or not.

A quiet blowing began, underscoring an eerie atmosphere. The work sits on the boundary between music and sound art, though it leans much more toward the latter. But this is not dissonant or “noise” art—the sounds you heard played with the ears rather than bristling at them. The progression drifted mostly beneath and above, drawing you into a kind of meditative state. At one point the brass players sharpened their tone, but otherwise the piece seemed to pass over you—through you—somehow. I’m almost tempted to use the word “comfortable.” Gentle? Even if that may not seem fitting in a review of an experimental work.

APPARAT delivered 100%, but Intraloper is the result of a collaboration between Bergrún and the group, composed especially for the occasion of the festival. A truly beautiful and thought-provoking work—and it’s still marinating in me.”

// “Fór á Myrka músíkdaga í gær og naut þess að hlusta á nýtt verk eftir hina mjög svo hæfileikaríku og vel kynntu Bergrúnu Snæbjörnsdóttur. Nýtt verk var frumflutt, Intraloper, en þýski málmblásarakvartettinn APPARAT sá um flutning ásamt Bergrúnu sem magnaði upp rafhljóð á völdum stöðum.

Maður gekk inn í Norðurljósasal Hörpu, vel dimmt var þar og kvartettinn sat fyrir miðbikið í svalri lýsingu. Aftan við hvern spilara hékk einslags málmplata. Það urraði smávægilega undir öllu er maður gekk inn og maður var hreinlega ekki viss hvort að verkið væri byrjað eður ei.

Hljóðlátur blástur hófst svo og undirstakk skuggalega stemningu. Verkið er á mörkum tón- og hljóðlistar og hallar í raun mun meira á hið síðarnefnda. En þetta er ekki óhljóða- eða hávaðalist (“noise”), það sem heyra mátti lék við eyrun fremur en að byrsta sig við þau. Framvindan dúaði þannig að mestu undir og yfir og dró mann inn í hálfgert hugleiðsluástand. Á einum stað hvesstu blásararnir sig en að öðru leyti leið verkið um mann – í gegnum mann – einhvern veginn. Ég er nánast kominn út í það að nota orðið “þægilegt”. Blítt? Þó manni finnist þetta ekki eiga við í umsögn um framsækið tónverk.

APPARAT skilaði sínu 100% en Intraloper er afrakstur samstarfs Bergrúnar og hópsins og var það samið sérstaklega í tilefni hátíðarinnar.

Virkilega flott og hugvekjandi verk og það er að marinerast í mér enn.”