JG: You’re just back from your first term at York University, where you’ve been studying as part of the Arts Council's Elizabeth Maconchy Fellowship. How have you found the experience so far?

JR: It’s been brilliant so far. I really enjoy living in York and studying there. Getting the Fellowship was a bit of gift, with the three-year funding. I’m very, very lucky to be studying there for the three years. And also I get to study with Roger Marsh and Ambrose Field, who so far have been very encouraging and seem to like what I’m doing.

JG: So you were, as you said, awarded the Maconchy Fellowship earlier this year and this will mean that you can complete a DPhil in composition over three years. This is obviously quite an important step for you to take?

JR: It’s a very important step. Doing a PhD was something I'd been thinking about for quite a few years. It’s five years since I finished my master's degree in Trinity [College Dublin]. When the opportunity came along to apply for the Elizabeth Maconchy Fellowship I just took a chance.

JG: And presumably the facilities in York are very good?

JR: Yes. There are only a handful of composers doing electro-acoustic music so it’s great because you get more time in the studios. And the studios are brand new, which is fantastic. They have a space called the Rymer Auditorium and we’re allowed to use that whenever we want to, either to mix music, put on concerts, or experiment with surround sound, etc. So that’s fantastic.

JG: What do you hope to achieve from studying there? Do you have very specific goals that you’ve set yourself to achieve at the end of the course?

JR: Well, my goal is to become a better composer obviously and to have the time to research, explore and experiment with different aspects of the music that I’m writing. So I suppose by the end of it I hope to have learnt a lot because I really have an awful lot to learn. I’m at the beginning of all this, so I’m just there to absorb.

JG: It must be good to have this time to absorb everything because you’re funded for the three years.

JR: It does make a difference to know that you are financially sound for the period. But it also gives me the added pressure of wanting to prove myself worthy of such a fellowship, so I’m working really hard.

JG: You’re following in the footsteps of quite a number of Irish composers, including Marian Ingoldsby, Gráinne Mulvey, Andrew Hamilton, and Fergal Dowling. Are there any other Irish composers studying in York at the moment?

JR: There are. There's Damien Harron, a percussionist, and a guy called Pete Moran.

JG: So it’s quite a big composition facility. How many composers are there in total?

JR: I don’t know the exact number but there is a high number [of composers] -- 20 or 30 composers. It’s just a great environment to be in with so many different cultures around and people from different places; it’s quite inspiring.

JG: Are you working on any piece at the moment?

JR: I am. I’m working on a piece for voice and electronics for [the Irish music theatre specialist] Natasha Lohan. We’ve been working on the preparation for this piece all summer. We spent three months or so recording material -- I recorded her voice, basically, and we experimented completely and pushed her voice to its limits, literally. I have a huge library of sounds -- hundreds of samples of her voice that I’ve categorised into folders and very carefully separated out and edited. I’m composing the piece now, which will be finished at the end of January. It will be performed in York and hopefully Ireland next year.

JG: You’ve written for Natasha before, haven’t you?

JR: Yes, I have.

JG: So presumably you know her voice and way of working quite well?

JR: Yes. The good thing about Natasha is that she’s so open to ideas and she will literally try anything that you ask her to try, within reason. It’s been a fantastic collaboration.

JG: And is that quite typical of how you work? Do you tend to collaborate very closely with the performer?

JR: To be honest, I haven’t had a chance [to work closely with the performer]. After working so closely with Natasha I would like to work in that way from now on, because it’s an excellent way of working -- you have all the material at your disposal. With the double bass piece [Fusion], I only got to work with Malachy Robinson a couple of times. I would go to his house and we’d work through the score I’d already written. And it was the same for the saxophone piece [phorM] too.

JG: And are you drawn particularly to writing for solo instruments and electronics or did the opportunities to write for these instruments happen by chance?

JR: I think it was more a choice -- to really concentrate on one instrument at a time. I do feel like I’m at the beginning of my explorations so it’s an experiment into discovering these instruments as I go along.

JG: At this point in time, how would you describe yourself as a composer? Where do you stand musically?

JR: It is a very difficult question and it’s one that I’ve been trying to answer myself, especially since starting at York. I don’t think I’m in any particular category or music. I think I cross over into the acoustic world in that in my electronic works I write as if my sounds are notes, and I’m just orchestrating my sounds. I suppose it’s organised sound. And I feel like I’m doing that more so than just discovering electronic music as an analytical form. I guess I do feel like I cross over between the acoustic and the electronic world more than some people do.

JG: So you’re not purely an electronic composer?

JR: Yes.

JG: Would you ever write purely for acoustic instruments? Is that something that interests you or would you generally be more comfortable when there is an electronic part to a work?

JR: I do feel my electronic side does enhance the acoustic element [of my works] quite a lot, and it breathes a lot more life into it for me. I would of course like to write some purely acoustic works but I'm taking the easy way out right now, because I know how to do the electronics.

JG: But you have written some non-electronic pieces, acoustic pieces, in the past haven’t you? You’ve written a piece for piano [Stagger].

JR: Yes.

JG: And is piano your instrument?

JR: Yes.

JG: And you mentioned about your current approach to the use of technology and how you use it. Has that approach changed much over the last four or five years or are you essentially using a similar approach that you did in some of your pieces around that time, which is very much influenced by the whole musique concrète style of writing?

JR: I think my style has developed quite a lot over the last five or so years in that I’ve really honed in on very specific details, whereas five years ago I was just really manipulating sounds and putting them together to see what came out; which also works. I’m still working with musique concrète in that I’m not manipulating the sound files at all -- I’m just working them against each other in order to create electronic effects and it’s working incredibly well. I haven’t pitch-shifted, time-stretched or convolved [the sounds] -- I haven’t done anything process-wise to these samples other than shortening them or fading them in and out. They are the only processes I’ve used on these samples, which is completely different.

JG: And that must take a lot of time?

JR: It can take an enormous amount of time. [For the vocal piece] I think it took a month of editing to get all the vocal samples ready for use. So yes, it’s a very long process.

JG: And is that pretty typical of your approach across the board in terms of writing electronic pieces?

JR: Yes. This is a project that is very large in comparison to what I’ve done before. It’s very detailed but hopefully I won’t have to do this each time I write a piece like this, because it was really a very long, tedious process to get it prepared before I could actually sit down and compose the piece. And now the trouble is that I’ve got 32 layers of material going on and I have to adjust the level of every sample so that it’s blended correctly. That takes an enormous amount of time as well. So I don’t know why I do it, really!

JG: It sounds very intricate and detailed!

JR: It is. I’m sure there’s an easy way of doing it, so I have to figure that out as the time goes by.

JG: Perhaps you could tell me a little bit about how you ended up becoming a composer. Where did the impulse come from?

JR: Well, I studied piano from the age of nine or so and I’ve always loved music -- I’ve had a huge passion for music all my life. On leaving school I decided to go into college and study music in UCD [University College Dublin]. I never thought about composition while I was there. I’d written pop songs and stuff like that as a kid growing up. I thought that [composition] might be a direction to go in at some stage but I never had the real patience to sit down and finish anything. I guess it was only when Donnacha Dennehy came to give a seminar in my final year in UCD that I heard some of his music and some of other people’s music that he played and thought, 'That’s what I want to do, that’s it.' And I didn’t realise that composition could be outside the realms of traditional harmony and counterpoint -- I was a bit naïve in that respect. But I never thought I could do it myself until I heard the seminar by Donnacha. So I asked him about the Masters course in Trinity and applied for it, got accepted for it and started composing.

JG: So it was through the music and media technology course and Donnacha Dennehy that you really became very involved in the whole side of electronic music and composition?

JR: Yes.

JG: And one of your other teachers there that you were taught by was Roger Doyle. Along with Donnacha, they’re two heavy-weights in the area of electronic music and composition. How much of an influence did they have on your development at that stage as a composer and the direction you took?

JR: They had a huge influence. What I learnt from Donnacha was how to listen really, really intensely to music. I think that’s a very vital thing to learn, especially in contemporary music where there are so many underlying currents in the music. Roger taught us a lot about different types of structures in electronic music. The two of them have very different approaches: Roger composes pure electronic music and Donnacha crosses over into both acoustic and electronic. They were both very encouraging.

JG: And your first major breakthrough came in 2000 when you won the Concorso Internazionale Luigi Russolo in Varese for your electro-acoustic work Accumulation?

JR: Yes. I entered on a whim, I guess, because Luigi Russolo was part of my studies for my Masters thesis. He was one of the first people to be involved in the use of everyday sounds as musical elements. Donnacha [Dennehy] suggested I enter it with my piece, Accumulation. And so I did and it got first prize and it was all very shocking. It’s been the saving grace I think for me over the years because people seem to comment on it or recognise it as a very important thing. I’m still really proud of that piece and I performed it in York a couple of weeks ago in the auditorium there and it sounded great.

JG: Winning that competition must have been very important for you. What was the effect of winning a competition such as this?

JR: Obviously I got a lot of recognition for it. The Crash Ensemble performed it both here and in Germany at the Hanover Expo 2000. From then on it’s just been a very important part of my CV I suppose, to show that I have won a competition. It does open a huge amount of doors when you have something like that.

JG: You mentioned the winning piece was Accumulation, which is a tape piece. You must have felt very good having a piece that you’ve written get so many performances.

JR: Yes, it was pretty fantastic. I just hope that it isn’t seen as a one-hit wonder! I think I have written better pieces since. They haven’t all been as accessible as Accumulation because it’s just a tape piece and you can put it on anywhere -- you don’t have to worry about a musician or anything. But I do think I’m writing better stuff now.

JG: After finishing the music and media technology course in TCD you went to live in Berlin in 2002. What made you choose Berlin?

JR: That’s a question I’ve been asking myself recently as well. I was going to go and do a sonology course in Holland but I had missed the deadline for applying that year, and I really wanted to get away and leave Dublin for a while. So somebody suggested to me that Berlin had a very strong musical scene. My sister also lives in Germany, so that was probably an impetus for going to Germany too. And so off I went. I got in contact with Akademie der Künste, which is the academy of arts in Berlin. They had said that they could help me out with studio time and maybe perhaps get a scholarship for their summer academy the next year, which I did get. And so I had a purpose for going there. I got to work in the studio for a month, on Interference for Natasha [Lohan], the first piece I wrote for Natasha. So that was great.

JG: Did you become quite involved in the new music scene while you were there?

JR: I did and I didn’t. I spent a lot of time in my first year there going to every possible concert I could get to -- not just contemporary music but electronic music, experimental music, anything I could get my hands on. And I guess I was just trying to experience as much as possible. It’s very easy to live in Berlin and there’s a lot happening. There are a lot of festivals and you can just bombard yourself with music. In terms of getting involved in the new music scene, I didn’t actually get performances there; I just did my own thing while I was there.

JG: And you mentioned leaving Dublin for a time. How important is it for you, as a creative artist, to actually experience life in another country? Whether it’s Germany or the UK?

JR: I think it’s essential. God knows where I’d be if I hadn’t gone to Berlin right now. Going to Berlin gave me the confidence and independence to figure my head out and realise where I actually want to go, what I wanted to do in life. And you know, living in a culture like the German culture, was really fascinating for me. I really got engrossed in meeting people who actually are natives of East Germany for example. I learnt the language, which is pretty useful. I think two and a half years in Berlin has changed my life hugely -- I’m a completely different person in some ways. And I miss it, terribly. I do get very nostalgic when I look at photographs and see Berlin on the television. So I may end up back there someday.

JG: And then you lived for a short time in London. How long did you live there for?

JR: I was in London for seven months. Initially, my reason for going to London was to do a PhD, perhaps at City University. It’s a great city obviously but for me, it wasn’t grabbing my attention. I spent most of the time just sitting at home working on this Natasha project. And it’s so expensive. Then the idea of York became more and more appealing to me, and so I went there.

JG: You’ve written music as well for short films, a couple of short films. Is this something that you enjoy doing particularly?

JR: Yes, it’s great working with film. I love putting my sounds against these images and seeing how the music actually develops a life of its own. I find it a very exhilarating experience to be able to develop what’s happening on the screen by just subtly pointing it in a certain direction with the musical content.

JG: And how different is your approach to composing for film as opposed to composing a piece that’s going to be performed in a concert or a purely electronic piece that isn’t dependent on another medium?

JR: I think it’s a lot easier to write music for films. I’m sure a lot of people will give out to me for saying that. When I’m writing music for films I basically create a soundscape that will enhance it in some way. And so, it’s not always incredibly intricate or very detailed because it’s a background thing. It’s a faster process to work with a medium like film.

JG: And would you like to do more of film work or is it something that you’re happy maybe to draw a line under and move onto something else?

JR: No, I’d love to do more film work. Definitely.

JG: And what about musical influences -- who or what influences you most in your composing now?

JR: Well, I think for me, I’m obsessed with finding new sounds and developing interesting textures. Composer-wise, I wouldn’t say I’m influenced by anybody really. I don’t like the idea of writing ‘in the style of so and so’, or indeed, whatever technique of composition that’s gone before. I like to think that I’m trying to create a unique sound-world that hopefully sounds good.

JG: And are your ears open to new sounds all the time? Are you all the time turning over different sounds in your mind or do you tend to do that when you have a particular project?

JR: No, I think it’s a pretty sick and constant thing [laughs]. Recently I was in London visiting -- I went to the Crash Ensemble concert. I was staying with a friend in a student residence in Pentonville Road and the fire alarm went off at two o’clock in the morning -- what happened after the fire alarm went off was quite fantastic. There’s a courtyard outside her window and all the rooms look out onto this courtyard. And everybody who was in the building at the time was probably drunk and partying -- it was Christmas time -- they were all shouting out the windows at each other. The spatialisation was quite fantastic and all I could think of was, ‘I wish I had mini-disc player so I could stick it out the window and record this’.

JG: And would you carry around a mini-disc recorder and record sounds as they occur?

JR: No, I don’t go that far. I do get caught out when I should have it with me. I haven’t started doing that yet. Usually when you hear something you can quite easily replicate it again, if you can find it.

JG: Yes, you have the idea of it?

JR: Yes.

JG: That’s interesting.

JR: I think one of the most interesting sounds I found in Berlin was a road sweeper -- the orange lorries with the sweepers on the end of them. It was fantastic.

JG: And did you record it?

JR: Yes. I’ve used it several times since.

JG: And are there certain sounds that you would use throughout your pieces in different ways? Or do you always look for fresh sounds to use?

JR: I usually look for fresh sounds but I do occasionally go back and listen to what I’ve done before and reuse it. Not reuse some samples but manipulate material in a new direction. I do have a huge, massive library of sounds. So yes, it’s useful to use the source material again and again.

JG: That’s interesting. So finally, what about 2006? You mentioned the piece for Natasha Lohan, which will be done at the end of January. Is there anything else that you have planned in 2006?

JR: Yes. In York there are a lot of performers that are willing to work on projects with composers. I hope to broaden my ensemble territory by getting two musicians involved next time as opposed to one [laughs] -- perhaps a violin and piano. I also want to go in the direction of maybe some live electronics but I have a lot of research and experimentation to do in that field.

JG: And beyond that, is there any other combination of instruments or genre that you’d really like to write for, in time?

JR: Yes, we have a gamelan at York, so I will definitely do something with that at some stage. Also I would quite like to get involved in investigating percussion in a big way.

JG: You don’t harbour the secret desire like so many composers to write an opera or anything like that?

JR: Not at the moment, no.

JG: It’s too soon to say?

JR: Yes.

JG: Judith, thanks very much.

Judith Ring was interviewed on video by Jonathan Grimes in the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin, on 21 December 2005.

The views expressed in this interview are those of the persons concerned and are not necessarily those of the Contemporary Music Centre.