Irish New Music: Back to the Future—‘Folk music’ Elements in ‘Art music’

M  usic—the natural words in the natural order. Through that formula we go back to the people.
  Music will keep out temporary ideas, for music is the nations’ clothing of what is ancient and deathless.”
  —  W.B. Yeats, Letter to Lady Gregory, 08-FEB-1937.

New music in Ireland is neither an attempt to move away from traditional music nor a deliberate construction upon previous works. The ‘Irishness’ of recent chamber music compositions is as idiosyncratic as the Irish counties and their distinct cultures and histories. I recently had an opportunity to explore the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin, in preparation for travel to Ireland later this year. The Contemporary Music Centre is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and also receives funding from the Ireland Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO).

The diversity is phenomenal—throughout the musical genres really but especially so among chamber music idioms that the CMC-member composers represent. Some contemporary composers are clearly serial or atonal. Others among them are much more lyrical and tonal. Bodley especially inclines to settings of Irish poetry—which is especially appealing to a foreign visitor like me who craves the cultural ‘situatedness’ of compositions like Bodley’s. It is not inward-looking or insular; instead, this music just feels intensely, well, ‘Irish’.

S ee everything through music! Those chords yet to resound in you—they swim like fish in all the rivers of the world. You love their playful surge, their shadows flickering deep within you.”
  —  Susan Connolly.

The act of composing classical music is, I suppose, ultimately an assertion of creativity—a cairn placed by the composer as a marker of her/his—our—existence, against the fact of our mortality. Chamber music is inherently ‘serious’ as well as intimate, regardless of the humor or other emotions it may convey. But, over the years, informal Irish folk idioms—gatherings of friends, the clairseach—have been transformed into concert pieces. So one question as I listen to the output of these Irish composers of new music is, is there now a trend ‘back to the future’—reverting to more informal folk music themes and smaller orchestrations, chamber ensemble pieces?

With some difficulty, it could be so—and Bodley and other composers in the CMC stable do it regularly. Boydell, too, in his earlier years—String Quartet, Op. 31, for example. But there’s no business model for it (the ‘stick’). And, to be honest, the Gaelic tradition in literature and the arts does incline toward epic proportions anyhow (the ‘carrot’). So when we have Irish composers writing new music for small ensembles, it’s clearly done as a labor of love.


Boydell passed away in NOV-2000. Along with fellow composer, Frederick May, he founded the Music Association of Ireland in 1948. Much of Boydell’s writing bears the influence of Bartók. Not that his work is entirely derivative of European traditions; it is not. But his avoiding incorporating Irish folk tune themes into his compositions is conspicuous, compared to other composers of Irish new music. Here’s a clip from his String Quartet No. 2, performed by Vanbrugh Quartet [Gregory Ellis (vn), Elizabeth Charleson (vn), Simon Aspell (va), Christopher Marwood (vc)].


    [40-sec clip, Boydell String Quartet No. 2, Vanbrugh Quartet, 0.5MB MP3]

I n the 1940s and early 1950s I was considered (in the Irish context) a very ‘modern’ composer. Now, about forty years later, my music could possibly be considered rather old-fashioned. This is largely due to a firm belief in artistic honesty: creating sounds that I like personally and refusing to follow fashions that might be more acceptable to the critics of the time.”
  —  Brian Boydell, 1996.

John Gibson was born in Dublin in 1951 and currently lives in Cork. His training/development included stints with Stockhausen and Lutoslawski. To date, he has five CDs released. Here’s a clip from his piece Sliabh Luachra, performed by Johnny McCarthy (trad fl) with the Crawford Piano Trio [Adrian Petcu (vn), Iosef Calef (vc), Jan Cáp (pf)].


    [40-sec clip, Gibson Sliabh Luachra, Crawford Piano Trio with J. McCarthy, 0.6MB MP3]

F or he had gone alone into the island
And brought back the whole thing.
The house throbbed like his full violin.”
  —  Seamus Heaney.

Seóirse Bodley was born in Dublin in 1933. His writing has been prolific and varied, ranging from avant-garde to Irish traditional music. Among other things, he’s a founder of Aosdána, Ireland’s government-sponsored academy of creative artists. Here’s a clip from his String Quartet No. 2, performed by Degani String Quartet [Alan Smale (vn), Elizabeth Leonard (vn), Padraig O’Connor (va), David James (vc)].


    [40-sec clip, Bodley String Quartet No. 2, Degani Quartet, 0.7MB MP3]

and a clip of his String Quartet No. 3, performed by the Vogler Quartet.


    [40-sec clip, Bodley String Quartet No. 3, Vogler Quartet, 0.9MB MP3]

I s iomaí sort ceoil atá ann, mar adúirt an fear a raibh an trúmpa maide aige.”
[There are many different sorts of music, as the man with the wooden trumpet said.]
  —  Seóirse Bodley.

In summary, there are many novel and exciting new chamber music works being written and performed here. I look forward very much to my next visit to Ireland. Maybe you, too, will have a chance to visit sometime soon. Meanwhile, browse what’s on CMC’s website (they have a wonderful Calendar of Events and other features), order yourself some of the CDs and scores, and enjoy!

• Contemporary Music Centre Ireland website
  
• Contemporary Music from Ireland, Vol. 2 (CMC.)
  
• Contemporary Music from Ireland, Vol. 3 (CMC.)
  
• Contemporary Music from Ireland, Vol.6 (CMC.)
  
• Ceathrar (CMC.)
  
• Cox G, Klein A, Taylor M, eds. Life and Music of Brian Boydell. Irish Academic, 2003.
  
• Cox G. Octatonicism in the String Quartets of Brian Boydell, in Devind P, White H, eds. Proceedings, Maynooth International Musicological Conference 1995. Four Courts, 1996.
  
• Hast D, Scott S. Music in Ireland: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. Oxford Univ, 2004.
  
• White H. The Keeper's Recital: Music and Cultural History in Ireland 1770-1970. Cork Univ, 1998.
  
• White H, Gillen G, eds. Musicology in Ireland. Irish Academic, 1990.
  
• TheSession.org (Irish traditional music)