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Article p1Four innovations: new directions in Irish orchestral music Conductor GAVIN MALONEY examines four significant movements in contemporary Irish orchestral composition

Irish Composers on Irish Music p9Benjamin Dwyer on Paul Hayes Irish composer, guitarist and musicologist BENJAMIN DWYER analyses the work of Japanese-based composer Paul Hayes

Ryan Molloy on the 'Irish' in Irish piano musicComposer and pianist Ryan Molloy examines the use of idioms from traditional Irish music in contemporary piano works by Irish composers

Article p10How to move mountains: a story of Irish opera Wide Open Opera artistic director FERGUS SHIEL discusses the processes that brought Nixon in China to the Irish stage in 2014.

Composers' Commentaries p16Issue 1: David Bremner's Gap StaticDAVID BREMNER discusses his orchestral work Gap Static

Issue 2: Ryan Molloy's 'Gealach Chríoch Lochlann'RYAN MOLLOY discusses his recent string quartet commission from the BBC.

Reviews p17Book Review: The Life and Music of James Wilson

Book Review: Different Voices: Irish Music and Music in Ireland

CD Review: L'air du Temps

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Editor's Welcome

The AIC New Music Journal is a multimedia, online journal of new Irish music, aiming to raise awareness of Irish composers' work, and to broaden the discussion and analysis of new trends in contemporary Irish music.

This is an important time for contemporary music in Ireland, with an unprecedented number of new orchestral works and operas being produced in the country, not to mention countless chamber works and CD releases, and even new ensembles and concert series. With such a wealth of artistic activity, there is little opportunity for the public, and even the artistic community (especially those looking in to Ireland from the outside), to digest what is happening. This journal is written by artists and musicologists with the contemporary classical music community in mind, both nationally and internationally, to facilitate a better understanding and a deeper engagement with new developments in contemporary Irish music.

We aim to showcase new Irish music to the world, and, in the process, to gradually accumulate a significant archive of what was happening in Irish music in the early 21st century.

Peter Moran

Editor, AIC New Music Journal

Chairman's Welcome

I would like to welcome all our readers to this new online publication, the AIC New Music Journal.

In November 1988, the Association of Irish Composers (AIC) published its only journal, The Irish Composer, with its subtitle Essays on Contemporary Music. I was personally involved in the setting up of the journal, which featured essays on subjects relevant to both Irish and international contemporary music. Since that time, a great deal has changed in our society, arts institutions and the musical landscape, with regard to funding and new technologies.

In Ireland we have witnessed the demise of several important print newspapers and arts magazines, accompanied by a reduction in the number of journalists and commentators covering the new music scene. This has led to a lack of exposure and lively debate in relation to new art music. I hope that this new publication will stimulate discussion and add to our knowledge of Irish and international contemporary music.I congratulate all the contributors for their hard work and interesting articles. Finally, I would like to thank Peter Moran and the publication committee of the AIC for bringing this new journal into the light of day. I wish the AIC New Music Journal every success in the future.

Michael Holohan

Chairman, Association of Irish Composers

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Four Innovations: new directions in Irish

orchestral music By Gavin MaloneyPublished December 4 th 2014

GAVIN MALONEY examines four significant movements in contemporary

Irish orchestral composition and looks in depth at four landmark works

related to those movements

For hi-res images of the score excerpts used in this article, visit the original web page here.

Four areas of experimentation stand out from the flurry of activity that has taken place in Irish orchestral composition over the past couple of years. These are extended techniques, post-minimalism, live electronics, and symphonic argument. Illustrative of these categories are four memorable compositions from the last decade or so. Phosphors (…of ether) (2012) by Ann Cleare explores extended techniques for orchestra with unusual precision; Donnacha Dennehy’s Hive (2005) is a model of method and movement; Synapse (2003) by Michael Alcorn is fundamental in its genre oflive electronics; and Kevin O’Connell’s Symphony (2010) is a rare work of involved formal argument.

While the divisions represented by these disparate works are not exhaustive of the range and breadth of recent Irish compositions for orchestra, they do serve as signposts to the listener. For example, Karen Power’s recent work no chaos: only organised panic for orchestra and live

electronics is indebted to Michael Alcorn’s Synapse. Power also invests heavily in extended techniques, many of which can be found in Ann Cleare’slexicon too. While Power travels far and wide in order to collect environmental sound samples to bring to our attention in the concert hall, the Dublin Laptop Orchestra found inspiration at home, literally. Their ambitious project was to utilise game consoles as instruments and give them pride of place amidst the 19th-century orchestra. Shift by Rhona Clarke is concerned with electro-acoustic processes (though not with live electronics) and extended techniques.

Sean Clancy wrote Ten Minutes of Music on the Subject of IKEA. Before I received the score, the title seemed facetious, but it’s actually apt and peculiarly sincere. This work, in its stark monotony, bears its minimalist influences proudly, and the almost digital precision of execution that it craves is derived from a close acquaintance with technology. Linda Buckley, RTÉ Lyric FM’s second composer-in-residence, is one of the few Irish composers of the past few years to have had the opportunity to explore text, as Dennehy did in Hive, through the medium of choir and large orchestra. She set This Word Love by Raymond Carver for the RTĒ Philharmonic Choir and the RTĒ National Symphony Orchestra.

It’s worth briefly exploring Phosphors (…of ether), Hive, Synapse and Symphony to cast some light on the variety of approaches taken by Irish composers recently.

Ann Cleare may be preoccupied with extended techniques more than any other Irish composer. Phosphors is an example of the considerable lengths she will go to to notate a uniquely envisioned soundscape. Cleare made twoversions of the score: they both represent the same material, but each is laid out differently.

Listen to Phosphers (...of ether) atwww.annclearecomposer.com/phosphors-of-ether

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Example 1.1: bars 1-5 of score in instrumental grouping layout: Example 1.2: bars 1-5 of score in second (standard) layout:

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The second score presents the instruments in a standard order, but the first groups the instruments according to the work’s ideational framework, whereby the orchestra is imagined as “four islands”. The islands sometimes relate, but “islands II, III, and IV are composed in a way that they do not know that each other exist”. In Phosphors (…of ether), Cleare conceptualisessound effects, and manipulates their duration, in a unique and imaginative abstract. The complexity of the abstract presents a considerable challenge for the listening ear to realise.

Donnacha Dennehy’s Hive is a piece whose foremost concerns are texture and duration. There is a reverberative grind to the momentum of this music. It creates a hazy space in which effects — sometimes shiny, sometimes dull — wax and wane. Illustrative of this is the combination of circling sandpaper, cast-iron pot lids and amorphous vowel sounds which we hear at the opening of the piece (example 2.1: bars 1-8, next page).

Such details stand forth persuasively because part of the orchestra is detuned by a quarter tone. When well executed, a hue of overtones is produced.

Example 2.1: Donnacha Dennehy's Hive, bars 1-8

The choir move through a succession of idiomatic utterances. These four bars show just one kind of challenge facing them — notice the leaping 6ths and 7ths shared by sopranos and tenors, and just how disjunct the word setting is (example 2.2: bars 146-149, next page):

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Example 2.2: bars 146-149, choral parts

The stamina of the brass is tested in the following passage (example 2.3: bars 297-344, next page):

These patterns recur and shift, without respite, for a total of 47 bars. After 35 of these bars, the choir join the brass, in unison. They then repeat seven-crotchet-long patterns, with some altered figurations, 24 times. Such minimalistic undulations characterise the whole piece.

Example 2.3: bars 297-344, brass parts

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Electro-orchestral scores are not unusual these days. I think Synapse by Michael Alcorn, has, since its conception, exerted an outstanding influence on other Irish examples of the genre. It is a piece to which contemporary works may be compared and contrasted. In this piece, the experience of listening bears the weight of the concept. Alcorn explains: “The term synapse refers to the tiny gap between neurons in the nervous system. Across this gap, signals (chemical neurotransmitters) are transmitted between neighbouring neurons in the form of ‘stop’ or ‘go’ messages [...] The concept of ‘musical synapse’ is represented in this piece by the apparent gap between sounds that emanate from the real instruments of the orchestra and the electronic sound world that is triggered.” (Example 3.1: bars 1-20, below).

Example 3.1: bars 1-12:

In practice, the spaces between the synchronised orchestral blows of the opening section are shrouded by the peculiar interposition of the first live electronic patch, which the score doesn’t describe. In performing Synapse, the musician experiences a kind of anti-dialogue. The electronic componentreacts to her sound just made, but she must not react to this reaction. Everybowstroke disconcerts because of this discontinuity. And so the “tiny gap between neurons in the nervous system” is, for the performer, penetratingly revealed.

Listen to Synapse atwww.soundcloud.com/michael-alcorn/synapse

What makes music symphonic, as Leonard Bernstein attested, is development. Kevin O’Connell’s Symphony is bookended by a very simple theme of a minor third, which constitutes the genus of the piece.

Example 4.1: bars 1-12:

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Example 4.2: bars 679-692:

O’Connell develops his material extensively, and with a taste for orchestral colour typified by these combinations of instruments.

Example 4.3: solo horns, bassoons and double bass, bars 55-70:

Example 4.4: clarinets and bassoons, bars 216-221:

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Example 4.5: solo trombone, tuba, timpani and strings, bars 225-243:

The symphony includes two prominent solos for flute and tuba, both of which seek the soloist’s interpretative freedom. The third movement could be marked giocoso (though it isn’t), and it subtly honours, as this passage hints, at least one recognisable great symphonist of the past (example 4.6: bars 415-422, next page).

Example 4.6: bars 415-422

The writing in the concluding movement declares a technically controlled frenzy, though it, like the rest of the work, is characterised by an economy of means. This quality of condensed argument, quite apart from the piece’s dramatic qualities, make it properly symphonic.

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Phosphors (…of ether), Hive, Synapse and Symphony represent four categories of compositional approach which are of relevance to many Irish composers in their recent work. But lots of creativity, of course, lies outside the purview of the arbitrary groupings of extended techniques, post-minimalism, live electronics and symphonic argument. The concerto remains a thrilling vehicle for the Irish composer, as is evidenced by recent forays into the form. Both Brian Irvine’s concerto for Darragh Morgan, À mon seul désir, and Bill Whelan’s Linen and Lace, for Sir James Galway, were received with great enthusiasm at their premieres. These concerti have little in common but their success, which may in some part be attributed to the formative roles played by their respective dedicatees. There’s an obvious historical precedent for this.

Listen to À mon seul désir, at www.soundcloud.com/brian-irvine/ a-mon-seul-desir-for-violin-and-orchestra

This reflection on recent orchestral music from Ireland commits, inevitably, grave acts of omission. That said, experience has taught me that idioms can be induced through which the curious listener may confidently approach what, on the surface, are highly disparate creative acts. No composer writesin a vacuum, and there are not that many dialects — I’ve suggested just four here — which we may learn to approach the latest music. It’s heartening that so many opportunities have materialised for Irish composers to write for orchestra. Recent creativity in this area is reflective of a broader panoply of music-making, which is fundamentally confident (and occasionally naïve). As someone devoted to the orchestra as a means of expression, I hope that our composers, and their works, will continue to flourish.

Gavin Maloney is a conductor with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked with the Ulster Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Crash Ensemble and National Chamber Choir among others. He has recorded the

music of Donnacha Dennehy (NMC label), Deirdre Gribbin and Kevin O'Connell (RTÉ Lyric FM label) and his concerts have been broadcast by BBC Radio 3, the European Broadcasting Union, RTÉ Lyric FM, and stations in North America and Australia

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Irish Composers on Irish MusicIssue 1: Benjamin Dwyer on Paul Hayes By Benjamin DwyerPublished March 28 th 2015

In this video, Irish composer, guitarist and musicologist BENJAMIN DWYER analyses the work of Japanese-based composer Paul Hayes, discussing the disintegration of sounds and gestures that are a hallmark of Hayes' music, with a particular focus on Hayes' 1990 work, Sonata al Niente.

Click to watch on YouTube

Filmed by Peter Moran at the Irish Georgian Society in Dublin, March 27th 2015

Irish Composers on Irish MusicIssue 2: Ryan Molloy on the 'Irish' in Irish piano musicBy Ryan MolloyPublished April 11 th 2015

In his fascinating talk in this series, Ryan Molloy examines the use of idioms from traditional Irish music in contemporary piano works by Irish composers. The works under discussion are:

Ryan Molloy's Saetre Btygge (2008)

Seoirse Bodley's The Long Road to the Deep North (1972/77)

Breffni O'Byrne's Rhapsody (2012)

Michael Holohan's Monaincha (2002)

Bill Whelan's The Currach (2008)

Martin O'Leary's Three Slow Airs (1992)

Click to watch on YouTube

Filmed by Peter Moran in Trinity College Dublin , April 1st 2015

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How to move mountains: a story of Irish opera

By Fergus SheilPublished December 5 th 2014

Opera is one of the costliest art forms in the world - but, as Wide Open

Opera artistic director FERGUS SHIEL has learned, collaboration can get

you places you’d never dreamed possible, and having an expensive

imagination is an asset, not a liability. Here he discusses the processes

that brought Nixon in China to the Irish stage in 2014, the rich early

education he got from creating community-centred work, and how to

remain patient and forward-moving when playing the long game

Over the past three years, opera has become an ever-larger part of my professional work, and in this period I’ve produced and/or conducted 16 different operas: nine contemporary works by Irish composers, one contemporary American work (Nixon in China), and six standard repertoire works by the likes of Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Wagner. I’m also involved in planning another four new works, including Gas by Donnacha Dennehy (music) and Enda Walsh (text), which has received funding for 2015 and willbe performed in Edinburgh, Dublin and London, later touring to New York in2016.

These opportunities have given me the chance to reflect on many aspects of the production of new operas. This article will share some of the issues that I have faced over this period from the point of view of an opera producer, outlining how different productions have come into being.

One of the first things to note is that there are many different models for opera creation. These depend to some extent on artistic motivation, but also to a degree on practical considerations. Who will perform it? Where will it be performed? Who will fund it? What size budget is available…? It seems anti-artistic almost to immediately bring these practical considerations into the equation, but these factors have a big effect on determining if an opera will ever move from the printed page into production.

Community opera and the usefulness of thinking big

The first opera I produced was Shelter Me From the Rain by Brian Irvine (music) and John McIlduff (text), a public art commission for Carlow Local Authorities in May 2011. This involved 100 locally-based singers who were specially trained over a full year and a 12-member ensemble from the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, with performances in the newly-built GB Shaw Theatre in Carlow. The opera took stories from people in Carlow and reflected them in a series of non-narrative scenes. The project represented the first-ever opera commission through the Per Cent for Art scheme. It wasfirst suggested by myself in January of 2008, coming to fruition over three years later. The opera subsequently won the 2011 Allianz Business to Arts award for Best Use of Creativity in the Community. The budget for this opera was in the region of €250,000, with approximately half of this contributed through the commission fund.

I learned a number of important things from this. At the time, Carlow Local Authorities were looking for some commissioning ideas; however, nobody was thinking of anything this ambitious in scale or budget. I presented a document with a menu of four options, the opera being the most extravagant and ambitious. I immediately saw that this sparked interest among local stakeholders and it became clear to me that something that was that audacious would make people sit up and pay attention. Once Carlow Local Authorities agreed to the project, it was then easy to attract other supporters. Carlow VEC, the Arts Council, The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, local businesses, RTÉ Lyric FM, etc. The implausibility of the

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project became the very thing that ensured its viability. It was this thinking that helped me choose Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde as the first project for the new company I founded a year later – Wide Open Opera.

Wide Open Opera: the meeting of old and new forms

When I founded Wide Open Opera in 2012, I was clear that I wanted to present both newly written opera as well as works from the existing repertoire. This was a very conscious decision that new opera should not berestricted to a company with a remit just to do new work, but needs to be experienced in the context of the broad spectrum of operatic endeavour.

Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde was an exciting starting point, but at around thesame time I spoke to composers Gerald Barry, Raymond Deane, Donnacha Dennehy and Brian Irvine: and I’m pleased that works by all four composerswill have been featured in the first three years of our operation. Also in this period we will have presented John Adams’ Nixon in China and we are making plans for more Wagner and some Rossini in the years ahead.

For the audience, performances of operas may just pop up in certain theatres and they can buy a ticket and come along. For the opera producer, it doesn’t happen quite so easily.

The Importance of Being Earnest and the power of

collaboration

Gerald Barry’s entertaining new opera The Importance of Being Earnest (seeYouTube clip below) was, from my perspective, the easiest new Irish opera to bring to production. The opera had already been jointly commissioned bythe LA Philharmonic and the Barbican in London, and had been performed in concert in both Los Angeles and London. During 2013 there were three different staged productions of the opera: one in the Linbury Studio Theatreat the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; one in Nancy in France; and our one in Ireland, which was a co-production between Wide Open Opera and NI Opera.

The co-production brought an element of financial security to the project: itallowed us access to public funding from Northern Ireland as well as the Republic, and it gave us the opportunity to show the production in Derry, Belfast, Cork and Dublin. Without the collaboration of NI Opera, it is questionable if Wide Open Opera could have produced this opera on its own, and certainly not to the same high production standard. We had a castof top international singers, a wonderful production team led by Antony McDonald (director and designer), and the 21-member Crash Ensemble conducted by Pierre-André Valade.

Click to watch on YouTube

Managing the budget for this opera was a complex matter – and at the timeof writing, about a year after the performances, not all matters are finalised. The total budget was close to €600,000, with 85% coming from public sector grants on both sides of the border, 5% from sponsorship and partnerships and 10% from box office earnings. This final 10% may seem small in the overall context, but this is the bit that keeps you awake at night.Not only does the producer rely on the response of the public to balance

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the books, but having a strong attendance validates the decision to undertake this production in the first place.

Gerald is a highly-regarded composer in Ireland and The Importance of Being Earnest is a well-known and much-loved title, so this should have been easy. Yet, one week before the Dublin performances, booking for the Gaiety was in the region of 10%. At the last minute it rose so that we had over 80% occupancy for both shows. But this was a nail-biting time…

The lessons I learned here were about the benefits of co-production, sharing responsibilities and sharing risk. The fact that we worked with NI Opera allowed us to mount a very high-quality production. Although the production gained high visibility in the national media, I still came away with a sense of caution at the speed of audience response to this.

The Alma Fetish: long journeys

Unlike The Importance of Being Earnest, this was an opera in which I had some involvement in its development. It was a process that pre-dated WideOpen Opera by a long time: and the story of how The Alma Fetish (see YouTube clip below) developed, and whether it will go further in the future, is an example of how protracted and complex the process of developing new opera can be.

The original idea for this opera came from artist Pauline Bewick, who suggested the scenario to Ethna Tinney, then producer of opera in RTÉ Lyric FM in 2006. The plot was based on the true story of Oskar Kokoschka’s infatuation with Alma Mahler, their brief and tempestuous affair, his participation in World War I, and his replacement of Alma with a specially commissioned life-size doll.

Ethna proposed the idea to Raymond Deane, who has a particular interest in Viennese art and music of the period around World War I, and he was commissioned by RTÉ Lyric FM to write one scene of the six-scene opera. Gavin Kostick wrote the libretto. This scene was then recorded by myself with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in January of 2009, and broadcast on a special documentary programme on Lyric FM.

There the matter lay for some time. Raymond, however, having started, wanted to finish. He subsequently applied for some Arts Council support through bursaries and projects: successfully on some occasions, unsuccessfully on others. Finally the opera was completed in full by the beginning of 2013.

The RTÉ NSO, having being involved in the earlier part of the opera’s development, were keen to take things to the next stage. With Wide Open Opera I managed to structure an agreement between the orchestra and theNCH and to get some funding from the Arts Council for an enhanced concert performance of the opera in the National Concert Hall in September of 2013. This involved projections of visuals by Pauline Bewick on a screen above the orchestra, and a concert performance with singers located in different parts of the NCH and effects created by lighting design. We had a cast of four principal singers and a chorus of 24, with many of the chorus also taking additional roles. We also had dancer Megan Kennedy representing the doll coming to life. The opera was recorded by RTÉ Lyric FM.

Click to watch on YouTube

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The single concert performance that was given is what I would regard as thesecond-last step in the development of this opera. The final step will be a fully staged production, if that takes place. I have been on the lookout for some time for a possible partner: for example, an international opera company or festival that might collaborate on a full production. Although I have not yet secured one, it is still something that I would very much like to see happen.

Things We Throw Away and the de-mystification of opera

I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with Brian Irvine (composer) and John McIlduff (librettist) on a number of occasions. I worked first with Brian in 2007 on The Tailor’s Daughter, a youth opera that was commissioned by Welsh National Opera and performed as part of the Belfast Festival that year. In 2008 I was part of the team for Brian and John’s first opera together,Dumbworld, which benefited from an earlier version of the Arts Council’s Opera Project grant. I was pleased that they could both work with me for Shelter Me from the Rain in Carlow in 2011, and we worked together again a year later on a major orchestra/choral/installation piece for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad in Belfast called Nest.

In Carlow, part of our motivation was to de-mystify opera for people who never normally participate in or attend operas. We did this by bringing together a big performance company from Carlow and working with them for over a year. Approximately 100 people participated and 1,000 people attended the performances.

We subsequently had the opportunity to undertake another public-art opera commission, this time for Dublin City Council. This was planned from 2011, but took until 2014 to bring to fruition for a variety of reasons to do with funding cycles and the availability of the artists. Here we wanted to once again de-mystify opera, particularly new opera, but we didn’t want to approach the task in exactly the same way. Rather than expecting people to come to a theatre to see new opera, we decided to take opera out to the streets and to public places and to bring it to people that would never encounter it normally.

We developed a scenario for five different short operas – each between fiveand 10 minutes in duration. Each had a slightly different story under the umbrella title Things We Throw Away. One, for example, was a love song between a discarded iron and ironing board, reflecting on better days when they were at the centre of a busy household. Another focused on the camaraderie and sense of community among smokers on a cigarette break outside an office building, knowing what they were doing was killing them, but enjoying the sense of belonging. A third opera told the story of two elderly women with walking aids, in a slow-motion chase of an elderly man (also on a zimmer frame) who has been unfaithful to one of them. A fourth involved a father-and-son scene outside a pub where the son has fallen asleep and the father is thinking back to better times when he was a child. The final opera looked at the life of the Banana Lady who sells bananas on Capel St, her stern outer expression in contrast to that of the playful bananas that come alive and sing jazzy Latin music, to her annoyance.

Each of the five operas was performed four times over one weekend in July 2014, and each was captured on film. The operas were sung live, with a portable PA relaying a soundtrack that had been specially recorded with theRTÉ Concert Orchestra.

The idea is that the performances are not just for the public that encountered them on the street, but that you will be able to go online and view a whole opera, on your laptop, tablet or phone, in under 10 minutes. It’s like an operatic gift from Wide Open Opera, funded by Dublin City Council, to audiences anywhere. These videos are currently in editing phaseand will be released online later in 2014.

Getting to know The Oldest Woman in Limerick

Another project also involving Brian Irvine and John McIlduff is a Wide Open Opera production for Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick as part of Limerick City of Culture 2014. This opera will be performed on Dec 12 and 13 in LimeTree Theatre.

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Once again, this is an opera with a community focus. There is a professional cast and orchestra, with a community choir assembled for the occasion. Themajor involvement of the community, however, has been in contributing the stories. Weeks of research in Limerick were framed by the quest to find the actual oldest woman in Limerick. To date, this appears to be a 104-year-old nun, Sr Anthony. But it’s not just the stories we have heard from Sr Anthony that have made it into the opera, but in fact the entire process of research: going to the post office, or the genealogy centre; meeting people in residential homes; hearing stories of friends and relations. All these and more have given rise to a series of vignettes that, taken together, will provide a powerful insight into our lives and the lives of others around us.

This project is funded by a grant from Limerick City of Culture and by a project grant from the Arts Council. It is a partnership between Lime Tree Theatre and Wide Open Opera. The impetus came from Louise Donlan, manager of the theatre, who had seen the Carlow opera in 2011 and wanted to create something that in a similar way addressed the lives of everyday people through the medium of opera. One of the aspects of Brian Irvine and John McIlduff’s work that I particularly like is that no matter whatthe subject matter, everything so often relates back to human interactions and choices in a way that anybody can understand and relate to. I’m hopeful that this new opera will offer something meaningful in this regard also.

The power of collaboration, pt 2: Gas

One of my first phone calls after forming Wide Open Opera in 2012 was to composer Donnacha Dennehy, to enquire about his opera Gas. Donnacha and I were in college together at TCD and later I worked with him for Crash Ensemble for a couple of years, so I have been across much of his work and I knew that this idea for a new opera was one that had been with him for the best part of 10 years. Gas is a psychological-thriller type of opera, centring on a woman who hires people to help her as she plans to end her life.

Gas had received some workshops and development grants previously, but Donnacha was unsure about its direction. Shortly before I spoke to him in 2012, he had met and worked with playwright Enda Walsh – and he wantedto start Gas again, this time with Enda.

In my first Wide Open Opera meeting, I had breakfast with Donnacha and Enda in Dublin, and Enda came on board. In what was an inspired move, they asked me to co-produce with Anne Clarke of Landmark Productions, who at the time I didn’t know. Landmark, of course, has produced many of Enda’s plays, including Misterman, Ballyturk and The Walworth Farce.

Anne Clarke brings to the table a huge amount of theatrical, marketing and commercial experience, combined with an enviable roster of international contacts. I bring experience of opera production and an entirely different set of contacts here in Ireland and internationally.

Together since early 2012 we have agreed a timeline for writing of the opera with Walsh and Dennehy, secured co-production agreement in principle from three international festivals/venues in Edinburgh, London and New York, agreed a plan for Irish performances of the opera in September/October 2015, secured support from the Arts Council and Culture Ireland, assembled a cast and creative team, secured agreement from Crash Ensemble to perform – and we’ve been shortlisted for a major international philanthropy award for international co-productions. We plan to give 28 performances of this opera in four centres in late 2015 and early 2016, with a total budget of over €1m.

I’ve learned from this the value of working with people who have complimentary skills, experience and contacts to my own. The process has also encouraged me to see opera from a broader context than I might have before. Coming from a musical background, I would always have viewed opera as something that a composer writes. But here, notwithstanding Donnacha Dennehy’s immense international success, Enda Walsh with his astonishing theatrical credentials is undoubtedly also a major factor that draws international co-producers. The roster of international co-producers then hugely strengthens the case when applying for funding. The funding

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then allows us to pitch the opera to cast and creative teams at a very high level. The whole process becomes a virtuous circle. The process reminds mea lot of my first production in Carlow. If the idea is attractive enough, people will get behind it.

Rosemary Kennedy and future directions

As a postscript, I’ll sign off with a few details of another opera that is taking its first steps into the world in 2015. Whether it will grow to full size, nobody knows!

The concept here is to develop an opera around the story of Rosemary Kennedy, sister of JFK. Rosemary was socially awkward, perhaps without the same IQ as the rest of her over-achieving family. Her father, Joe, mortally embarrassed, organised for a quack doctor to perform a frontal lobotomy on the 23-year-old Rosemary. The operation was performed whileshe was awake, and she was encouraged to sing as they hacked away parts of her brain. When she could no longer sing, they stopped. Rosemary was institutionalised for the rest of her life, living on into her 80s, all but completely abandoned by her family.

The idea for this opera came from Laurence Roman, who has written the libretto. Brian Irvine will compose the music. We would like to develop an opera on a large scale with full orchestra, cast and chorus. This may prove too ambitious. In the meantime we have just secured a project development grant from the Arts Council, and in early 2015 we will begin the composition of some scenes; we will record these with the RTÉ NSO andbegin the process of looking for a co-producing partner, most likely in the US in the first instance. It will be 2018 at the earliest before this opera is performed, if we get that far. We are now taking baby steps at the beginning of the process. But as we’ve seen, these processes do take many years, so it’s important to have several operas at different stages of development.

Watch this space, but watch other spaces also. I’m in conversation with a lot of different composers and writers. It’s my view that there is a lot of creative potential in Ireland from many different artists. Although we are a country without major institutions such as a national opera company, it maybe possible over time that we can focus on the development of new opera and eventually win international recognition in this sphere.

Fergus Sheil is Artistic Director of Wide Open Opera and Opera Theatre Company. See www.wideopenopera.ie and www.opera.ie

Main photo (at top): Barry Ryan and Claudia Boyle as President Richard M Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon in 'Nixon in China', Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin, May 2014

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Composers' CommentariesIssue 1: David Bremner's Gap StaticBy David BremnerPublished March 1 st 2015

Composers' Commentaries is a series of videos in which we analyse and discuss recent works, with the composers themselves, while listening to themusic and reading along with the score.

In the first of this new series of features for the AIC New Music Journal, composer DAVID BREMNER discusses his orchestral work Gap Static, premiered by the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in January 2015.

Click to watch on YouTube

David Bremner was interviewed by Peter Moran in the AIC Offices in Dublin,February 27th 2015.

Composers' CommentariesIssue 2: Ryan Molloy's 'Gealach Chríoch Lochlann'By Ryan MolloyPublished August 17 th 2015

In the second video in this series of features for the AIC New Music Journal, composer RYAN MOLLOY discusses his string quartet Gealach Chríoch Lochlann, commissioned by the BBC and premiered by the Danish String Quartet, 27th Nov. 2013, Strule Arts Centre, Omagh, N. Ireland.

Click to watch on YouTube

Ryan Molloy was interviewed by Martin O'Leary at NUI Maynooth, July 9th 2015.

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ReviewsBook Review: The Life and Music of James Wilson By Martin O'LearyPublished October 10 th 2015

MARTIN O'LEARY looks at Mark Fitzgerald's biography of a most

important figure in Irish Twentieth-Century Music, James Wilson.

Mark Fitzgerald writes in the Conclusion of his biography of James Wilson that the aim of his book is “to steer interested performers on their own journey through the Wilson archive”, and to heighten “awareness of even one corner of Ireland's musical past”. The latter aim is still a valid and urgent one in Irish music scholarship, despite the publication over the past few years of books on composers such as Aloys Fleischmann, Brian Boydell, Seoirse Bodley, John Buckley and Raymond Deane among others, as well as Benjamin Dwyer's superb book comprising interviews and a wider historicalcontext Different Voices: Irish Music and Music in Ireland. All these volumes provide valuable source materials for the informed consideration of Irish composers and their music, and go some way towards rescuing both the composers and their music from the obscurity in which they have dwelt for far too long. This is the first biography of James Wilson (1922-2005), an English born composer who settled in Ireland from 1949, and Fitzgerald succeeds admirably in presenting a cogent chronicle of Wilson's life and career which, in its discussion of selected works offers an accurate appraisaluseful in introducing the music to an unfamiliar reader or listener. In addition to this, his commentary is underpinned by a close examination of

the pieces under discussion. It is both general (in the best sense) and precise, both introductory and focussed.

Fitzgerald's approach to his subject is largely chronological, although he departs from strict chronology on occasion to discuss related works (such asvocal works or works for children). In this manner he is able to provide overviews of all corners of Wilson's sizeable output (176 opus-numbered works, plus several more without opus number), which is quite a considerable task, given how productive Wilson was throughout his composing career of about 40 years. The usual division of a composer's output into early, middle and late periods is to an extent followed by Fitzgerald, beginning with his first pieces written after settling in Dublin in 1949. The second creative period runs from the late 1960s through to his late works (after the reduced scoring of Grinning at the Devil leads to, as Fitzgerald puts it, “a move towards increased clarity of sound resulting in thinner textures”). It is quite telling (and indicative of the conditions governing the Irish compositional scene, and the limited opportunities for performance) that his first major success did not occur until 1965, with the production of The Hunting of the Snark, op 8 in the Royal Irish Academy of Music.The seven performances in five days (including two matinees) were sold out — a statistic that loses none of its impressiveness with the passing of time since 1965. This piece combines two aspects of his creativity that recur throughout Wilson's subsequent output, namely works written for thestage, and a humorous, whimsical choice of subject material and texts. (Wilson's final, incomplete opera, Stuffed Raspberries, op 176, would unite these two areas once again). From then on Wilson pursued his calling ( “the constant desire to create new compositions(s)” as Fitzgerald expresses it) with purpose and dedication, building and sustaining working relationships with key performers and interpreters such as Colman Pearce, whose championing of Wilson's work was a major force in sustaining his profile and reputation. His collaborators also included the sopranos Jane Manning and Dorothy Dorow and the Israeli violist Rivka Golani as well as several of the top professional musicians in Ireland. Fitzgerald offers lucid and insightful commentary on a number of selected works from each creative

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phrase. This constitutes the fullest account yet written of Wilson's output, and for this alone, the book is invaluable.

Wilson's attitude to his own work is described as “diffident”, which sits oddly with his continual productivity (see Fitzgerald's assessment quoted above). He also stated that he was always “more interested in my subsequent work”, which I can attest to, as he once commented to me that the reason he kept composing was his hope that the next piece would be better. This diffidence, however, does not appear to be borne out in the case of a work like Capricci, op 33 for piano, written in 1969 but not performed until ten years later. Fitzgerald quotes the composer's comment on this — “I remembered it eventually, dusted it off, and showed it to Philip Martin” — to whom it is dedicated. This raises several questions — was it the meeting with Martin — a superb pianist, composer and champion of Irish music — that led him to revisit the piece (and dusting it off is a wonderfully imprecise description), or had he been trying unsuccessfully foryears to interest other prospective performers in the work (which would be difficult for a sizeable work not commissioned for the performer being approached). The piece was subsequently recorded in 1985 by Nicholas O'Halloran — a recording which is mistakenly attributed to Wilson's Thermagistris, op 29 in the Discography — at a time when there were very few commercial recordings of the music of Irish composers. Wilson presumably chose this work as being representative of him for this series of three cassettes released by Goasco. This attests to an ambiguity in Wilson's attitude to his output as a whole, and his comments on this — it is difficult to disentangle the often anecdotal information in relation to the composer and his works. Fitzgerald manages adroitly to steer a logical course, and draws extensively on correspondence and documented interviews to allow Wilson to speak (however ambiguously) for himself.

One aspect of Wilson's creativity which is noticeably consistent is his attitude to the matter of revising works. His comment to me quoted above would appear to support this — Wilson rarely returned to a work once it was finished. There are a few exceptions, such as the first symphony, op 4 (which he revised with the assistance of Colman Pearce after its premiere

for a radio broadcast) — and once again his comments are ambiguous — onthe one hand being glad he did it while also admitting in an interview to finding it very difficult. The second case is that of Tam O'Shanter, op 12, where Wilson added piano and percussion parts to an unaccompanied choral work: a close comparison of the two scores (which Fitzgerald doesn'tprovide) might yield some interesting insights into what Wilson changed and why, or if there were any changes either in musical material or structure as well as instrumentation. To those colleagues (such as myself) who were in regular contact with him, he was unusually reluctant (for a composer) to talk about himself or his work in any detail, but he was alwaysdelighted to share his latest work and received one's reactions to it with thegentlemanliness and reserve typical of him. His love of music was pervasive (his greatest inspirations were Mozart and Ravel), and his combination of this with his enthusiasm for sharing compositional practise and experience were reflected in his teaching. This (in the Royal Irish Academy of Music andthe Ennis (now Irish) Composition Summer School) was directed towards enabling the student to find their voice, rather than writing in a Wilson-esque style — a thought which horrified him. This is a virtue of his teaching that even a cursory comparison of the divergent styles of pupils such as John Buckley, Derek Ball, Jerome de Bromhead, Roger Doyle and Paul Hayesmakes abundantly clear.

Wilson is one of the most successful Irish opera composers in terms of performances in Ireland and abroad (along with Gerald Barry and Kevin O'Connell), and his operas are given a detailed and insightful commentary here. His perseverance in opera composition (and in particular large scale opera composition) is typical of his devotion to the creative act (as he said of Virata, op 153, it “had to be written”), sometimes in the face of the practical reality (which, for a composer interested in large scale opera in Ireland is all but hopeless). Wilson's two large scale operas — Grinning at the Devil, op 101 (1984)— in its original scoring — and Virata, (1999) remain unperformed, and Wilson reduced the forces required in Grinning at the Devil to enable it to be produced in Copenhagen, leading to a very successful run at the Riddersalen Theatre in 1989. With regard to A

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Passionate Man, op 139 (1995) and Virata, the fact that Wilson interrupted work on the latter to write the former is indicative of the often practical basis of Wilson's work — where the prospect of a performance of the operaon Swift (on a much smaller scale than Virata) was a major determining factor in this decision to put a work not scheduled for performance to one side to avail of the opportunity of hearing a different work. Fitzgerald offers an insightful commentary on Grinning at the Devil and is also quite critical of A Passionate Man, citing its lack of drama, despite it containing (in my opinion) some of Wilson's most strikingly lyrical music (in the final scene). He draws on Wilson's own remarks in an interview in Soundpost to highlightthe weaknesses of A Passionate Man, and indeed notes that Wilson, according to Jane Manning, who sang in the first performance, “was not happy with the opera”.

Fitzgerald opines that “Wilson's output is variable in quality” but also singles out some of his most significant works for special comment and advocacy. These include the second symphony Monumentum,op 64 (“one of the most successful works in Wilson's output”) which Wilson, perhaps surprisingly, omitted from a list he made himself of key works. This work has been performed only once — and is sorely in need of a further performance and recording. Later works such as Angel One, op 112 and Menorah, op 123 are also viewed as key works, and in an output as large as Wilson's this selection is useful and may help prospective performers to choose works which will do the most to advance his reputation and profile. This is one of the most important achievements of the biography. There are some passing errors — the Ennis Composition Summer School is not, and never has been run by the Association of Irish Composers (as stated on page 179). There is an informative commentary on Letters to Theo, op 92 which states that it is based “on a twelve-note pitch collection” but there are only eight pitches in the following music example. While the commentary relates how Wilson often fragments the row (in a manner related to Alban Berg) the context of the musical example is nonetheless confusing.

The reader of this biography and musical commentary will find more revealed in relation to the music than with regard to Jim himself (as his friends knew him). This is not Fitzgerald's fault, but rather a consequence oftwo things: the reserve which was a quintessential part of the man, and the more anecdotal nature of his own manuscript autobiographical sketch Fromthe Top in particular (and this would appear to be a characteristic of his letter writing as well). Two things, however, do emerge clearly: his resolute determination with regard to composing, and his warmth and insight shared with his many friends and pupils.

A fine example of Fitzgerald's approach to the music is his commentary on the sixth sonata for violin and piano, op 173, written in 2004 or 2005, and thus one of the composer's final works. Fitzgerald characterises the work asbeing “Rhapsodic in its approach to form and lyrically restrained in approach”: this summarising characterisation of the work is informed by a clear understanding of the most important processses that shape the music. Wilson was a pivotal figure in the evolution of Irish music from the latter decades of the twentieth century into the beginning of the twenty-first, and Mark Fitzgerald has contributed a balanced, detailed, informative and discriminating account of a full life and equally full output.

Martin O'Leary is a committee member of the Association of Irish Composers and teaches composition in NUI Maynooth.

The Life and Music of James Wilson is available from Cork University Press.

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ReviewsCD Review: L'air du Temps

By Donal MacErlainePublished January 23 rd 2015

Composer DONAL MACERLAINE shares his reflections on the latest release

from Béal Music, with David Bremner on pipe organ and Mark Redmond

on uilleann pipes

The recent release of L'air du Temps is based on the relationship between theslow Irish air as heard on uilleann pipes and the French organ repertoire of the Baroque period. Although there may not be much historical overlap, there exist textural elements which are common to both instruments. The most important features of the respective bodies of repertoire that are chosenare rhythmic freedom and expression through ornamentation. It is a clever technique of curating that allows the music to remain emotionally appealing rather than becoming intellectually demanding. Hence, each instrument is afforded the space to breathe and express rather than having to accommodateits counterpart.

The beauty of their approach is revealed in this admission from the liner notes: “Where historical evidence is patchy, Bremner has composed new pieces that fabricate links that may or may not have actually existed.” Although this may come across like a position worthy of J.L. Borges, its bold honesty and transparency is refreshing and can be felt through the album as a whole. What's important for me as a listener is that the historical context, or the intellectual idea is secondary to the actual production of music resulting in what Bremner has described as “speculative musicology”.

Hence, the music is an “atmospheric re-imagining of Eighteenth-Century Ireland and France”. Many collaborations that aim to bring together disparate musical elements have common pitfalls, the primary one being thatthe 'crossover' really is only that by name and lacks any genuine crossing-over. I'm glad to say that this one successfully avoids these. There is a clarityof intention throughout and an insightful sensitivity on the part of both players to each other and his respective repertoire and background. At times the two instruments are boldly contrasted in an unapologetic and indeed mischievous way (Bremner's chordal accompaniment through the slow air ofEanach Dhúin, Couperin's Kyrie en Taille) – but more often blend with greatsensitivity and subtlety by both players (Amhrán na Leabhar). As the album progresses the territories are blurred further and the interaction becomes more brave. There is born from this a lovely quality of mysteriousness that isreflected in the acoustic of Christ Church. The boldness of the idea is carefully balanced with a great subtlety on the part of both players, but there is also no shortage of surprises and a good degree of originality in the methods of arranging, such as Variations upon 'the usual reason'. This is particularly apparent in the glassy, metallic and spectral textures of the album's stand-out piece, Ungettable, a piece inspired by fractal geometry.

Listen to L'air du Temps at www.soundcloud.com/david-bremner/lair-du-temps

Donal Mac Erlaine is a musicologist, guitarist, and an active member of the

Association of Irish Composers.

'L'air du Temps' is available from Tower Records, from Christ Church,

Dublin, and online at bealfestival.wordpress.com

Main photo (at top): CD Cover by Clare Lynch

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ReviewsBook Review: Different Voices: Irish Music and Music in Ireland

By Mark Fitzgerald Published January 25 th 2015

MARK FITZGERALD reviews a book that looks to illuminate the under-

documented rise of Irish contemporary classical and art music and which

includes interviews from some of its current leading lights

I’ve frequently noticed when visiting other countries that people who regard themselves as culturally aware will be able to name at least a few artists from each of the main art forms. In Ireland, while cultural commentators candiscuss literature, theatre, visual arts, film and commercial music, it is somewhat unusual to come across anyone not involved in music who can name the most important Irish composers of the last 100 years. Indeed, the knowledge of some people involved in the music business can also be startlingly vague. This national myopia was the spur for Ben Dwyer’s publication Different Voices: Irish Music and Music in Ireland. The book is aconflation of two separate yet interlinked sections: a short but dense exploration of the trajectory of classical or art music from the 18th century to the present, and a set of interviews with 12 composers, most of which were conducted in 2013.

The first part of the book provides a contextual background to the interviews, in particular offering an important insight into political and social issues that reverberate throughout the second half of the book. This brief history is more important than its compact nature might at first suggest,as it writes against the dominant narrative currently available in Irish

musicology. It should of course be remembered that musicology has only begun to flourish in Ireland relatively recently, and even today the study of Irish music is in some institutes not seen as a ‘serious’ pursuit — more than once I have come across senior figures, in institutes happy to teach composition to PhD level, who dismiss the study of Irish composition as ‘provincial.’ This strange post-colonial attitude has both informed some of the writing on music in Ireland to date, as well as perhaps limiting the level of engagement which has occurred: and so a small number of texts have tended to dominate the discourse. Unlike in other disciplines where each generation of writers has rigorously scrutinised the previous one, proposing revisionist stances or overturning previously held ideas with new research, musicology pertaining to Irish art music has frequently merely replicated and extended pre-existing ideas. Of course, direct comparison between the relative poverty of pre-20th-century Irish repertoire and, for example, Austro-German music from the same period can encourage a certain musicological despondency, particularly if one makes unrealistic comparisons between nations purely on the basis of size - being part of the Austro-Hungarian empire at the end of the 19th century is a very different musical context to being part of the impoverished colony of the ‘land without music’ still reeling from the social impact of the famine. More problematic is the propensity in much writing to project the despondency of the 19th century on to the 20th century and our own time via a sort of narrative of failure, which ignores the real achievement of Irish composers in the second half of the 20th century and beyond.

Dwyer’s introduction tackles these issues head-on, acknowledging the fragmentary and frayed aspect of our musical history, but also demonstratingthat the reasons for this are more complex than they are sometimes portrayedas being. The first section interrogates the somewhat rose-tinted version of ascendancy 18th-century Dublin that has dominated musicological writing todate. For example, having noted Brian and Barra Boydell’s extensive writingdepicting the 18th century as a golden period of music and inclusivity, he pauses to ask the awkward questions — how many people was this a golden period for? Who was the music for? And how good or at how professional a standard was it? In particular, Dwyer highlights how the short-term interests of the 18th-century elite were to negatively impinge on the development of

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music and musical infrastructures, in contrast to the standard texts which tend to posit the growth of nationalism in the 19th century as the scapegoat for all that has been wrong with the production of and reception of music in Ireland. Dwyer’s account of the 19th century again moves away from simplebinary oppositions to a more complex and nuanced approach that takes in post-colonial and orientalist theory and examines in detail the British administration of education in Ireland. The evidence is not used to excuse the complete failure of the independent Irish state to address the deficit of both musical infrastructure and education which persists to this day, when levels of access to musical education are directly linked to both location within the country and one’s level of disposable income. Indeed, Dwyer highlights the way in which Ireland, having emerged from colonisation by Britain, quickly betrayed the socialist ideals that drove the move towards independence 100 years ago and submitted to new masters, first a quasi-theocratic one and more recently the religion of late-capitalist business.

As in previous sections of the book in which he examines music in relation to other art forms, Dwyer discusses the disparity of coverage between 20th-century literature and music. He makes the telling point that whereas literature has, post-Joyce and Beckett, for the most part left behind the experimental tradition in favour of a more commercial realism (or what he terms a post-colonial nostalgia), the period of this retreat in literature is the very point where experimentalism takes hold in music, a factor which along with the poor levels of music literacy in Ireland has helped to contribute to the paucity of coverage. He also addresses the inflated position Ó Riada has assumed in cultural studies in Ireland; while Ó Riada played a pivotal role inthe traditional music revival and had a certain impact on the generation growing up in the 1950s and '60s via his film music, his contribution to Irishart music was negligible and awareness of his Nomoi among younger generations is minimal. The final section of the introduction focuses on issues of identity, feminism, politics and globalisation, highlighting the problems inherent in producing a music which is not viewed as easily commodified: either by a government which, via the Arts Council, distributes much of the funding used to sustain the various music infrastructures in Ireland, or by cultural commentators unable to move beyond a simplistic shorthand for Irish cultural identity.

Unlike the approach taken in books of composer interviews such as Walter Zimmermann’s Desert Plants (Vancouver, 1976) or Kevin Volans’s Summer

Gardeners (Durban, 1985), where the chosen composers can be seen in a general sense to share an aesthetic viewpoint, in Different Voices Dwyer has deliberately avoided narrowing the selection to one group or type of composer. The one thing these composers have in common is Ireland and yeteven this is a loose connection as its nature varies from composer to composer; in some cases it is the place they were born, in others it is an adopted home or place where they found their musical voice. In terms of timeline, the book covers composers active from the late 1950s onwards. The chosen composers, aged from mid-20s to early 80s, are (in chronological order) Seóirse Bodley, Frank Corcoran, Jane O’Leary, Barry Guy, John Buckley, Kevin O’Connell, John McLachlan, Benjamin Dwyer (interviewed by Kevin O’Connell), Gráinne Mulvey, Siobhán Cleary, Nick Roth and Dorone Paris. This selection results in discussion of music ranging from the highly predetermined to the improvised and from works which are easily defined in terms of genre to works which defy such categorisation. Instead of any tidy account of composition in Ireland, here the different voices jostle against each other, sometimes converging on an idea but frequently providing the reader with a series of contrasting views in quick succession.

Certain themes recur from different angles. Several composers reflect on the sometimes circuitous route they took to being a composer, while the difficulties encountered by those who wanted to study composition in Ireland as recently as the mid-1980s is highlighted by Gráinne Mulvey, who could not find any Irish institute offering lessons in composition. The composers are asked questions which push them towards clear illumination of how they have reached their current aesthetic position and they are given the space to develop their ideas. Key works are discussed by each composer to illustrate their approach, and many of the composers discuss at length what makes up their signature in sound — or, in the case of Nick Roth, he explains why he feels, "If [empowerment of the performer] means to a certain degree sacrificing a sonic signature in place of a philosophical one, of course that is a sacrifice I would make gladly any day." The position of composers in contemporary society is also dissected and Dwyer asks most

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contributors whether or not a composer has a political role to play. The latterresults in a wide range of answers, from Jane O’Leary’s "I really believe in art for art’s sake [...] The type of music I write is as far from reality as you can get [...] I can’t deal with art as a political statement" to Dorone Paris’s "I think it’s bad that people are still writing things that don’t mean anything [...] Art is for reflecting what the world actually is, not trying to pretend it’s something else." For those unfamiliar with the chosen composers’ music, there is a supporting website created by the Contemporary Music Centre (http://differentvoices.ie) which includes sound clips and videos of selected compositions by each composer.

Refreshingly for a book on Irish art music, the volume does not shy away from more controversial issues. Frank Corcoran outlines the narrow sectarian vision of music in Ireland when he was young, while Jane O’Learyis frank about how long it took for her to be accepted in the insular world of Irish music and Kevin O’Connell reflects on how he felt marginalised by changes in fashion for programmers in Ireland in the last few decades. Most composers comment on the huge increase in the number of Irish composers as can be seen from the ever-expanding list on the CMC website, but while Ireland in the past has been noted for its lack of a dominant school and the great individuality of its voices, several interviewees comment on the tendency in recent years towards uncritical group embracing of particular fashions — a generation who rushed to bang on an Irish can (not to mention promoters who hope to turn 21st-century Dublin into 1990s New York) and a younger generation who have discovered the joy of spectralism. We are asked if composers are now merely aping the not-so-latest import, as Kevin O’Connell puts it, arriving at the party 15 years too late. Attendance at events such as the Free State concerts show that there is still considerable diversity in Ireland, but the tendency of composers (of all ages) to form distinctive factions with different audiences and the tendency of programmers to sustain these factional divisions tends to mean these ideas do not get debated.

And then there is the issue of what I have referred to elsewhere as the transitory or disposable nature of composition. By this I am referring to the way in which many organisations fulfil their required quota of new music by

hosting a constant stream of world premieres of works which are never given a repeat performance. As John Buckley notes, "Many orchestral worksproclaimed as 'world premieres' might well have the advertising slogan of the late-18th-century press: 'Positively the last performance in this kingdom.'" On a similar note, Kevin O’Connell asks, "Does anybody remember Bo Nilsson? [He was] the Swedish whizz kid of the late '50s and early '60s [...] Like spring snow, he was there, then he was gone," while Frank Corcoran describes his teacher Boris Blacher as "the most wonderful man. He was the most successful composer in Germany until the day he diedin 1975. The day he died everything stopped [...] because his publisher stopped pushing him." Jane O’Leary brings this idea closer to home, highlighting the lack of programming of Irish music from the 20th century, asking, "How many pieces by Jim Wilson have been performed since he died? None. Because he’s not alive to go screaming and shouting for his music to be played." Performers and promoters will decide whether in the future Different Voices is an essential guide to a living tradition or a fascinating guidebook to the dust-covered museum.

The days when composers might be interviewed by a national newspaper areclearly gone and there are few platforms available for non-commercial composers in Ireland. Within days of the launch of Dwyer’s book, the Irish

Times announced a new series entitled ‘Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks’, which will focus on literature, painting, sculpture and architecture, with periodic appearances of "Irish music and song, Irish humour and Irish film", once again demonstrating the myopia of Irish media. The need for volumes like this one, which are both readable and informative, is therefore all the greater as a record of music creation in our time and to further promotion of new music in Ireland.

Dr Mark Fitzgerald is a musicologist in DIT Conservatory of Music and

Drama.

Benjamin Dwyer, 'Different Voices: Irish Music and Music in Ireland'

(Hofheim: Wolke Verlag, 2014). See www.differentvoices.ie

Main photo (at top): Benjamin Dwyer. Photo by Brian Kavanagh

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Editor Peter Moran

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Copy Editor Kim V. Porcelli

Web Design Jenn Kirby, Daryl Feehely

And our special thanks to the AIC committee and all the members who helped to realise this project.

www.aicnewmusicjournal.com

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