Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Donnacha Dennehy
Grá agus Bás (2007)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
- fl(pic), cl(bcl), tbn, perc, egtr, vn, va, vc, db; samples (max patch)
- Voice
- 28 min
- Anon.
- Gaelic
Programme Note
Crash Ensemble and Iarla O Lionaird (excerpt)
Composer Note:
Written especially for Iarla O’ Lionáird and the Crash Ensemble, and commissioned by Trinity College, Grá agus Bás is inspired by the moments of ecstasy (both luscious and dark) within a number of particular Sean Nós songs, but especially Aisling Gheal, and uses these as a collective point of departure for a journey exploring the themes of love and death in a non-narrative context. Technically, it may be of interest to know that the treatment of pitches (and harmony) in this piece oscillates between an equal tempered and a quasi just-tuned spectral approach. Basically it is usually equal tempered when it is harmonically mobile, and just-tuned when it is harmonically static.
Special thanks are due to Michael Taylor, head of the School of Music at Trinity College, for organizing a commission for what was essentially a labour of love, to Kate Ellis, our cellist, for so patiently coaching me on the various gymnastic patterns of harmonics I wanted to use, and to Iarla for his talent, his enthusiasm and his open-minded assistance throughout.
— Donnacha Dennehy