A major study by Richard Pine, Music and Broadcasting in Ireland, has been published by Four Courts Press.

Among many interesting sections in this substantial book, Chapter 4: Composers at Work, contains the texts of talks by 17 Irish composers in the 1958 radio series 'Composers at Work'.

The chapter discusses Irish composers and their relationship with Radio Éireann in the light of Denis Donoghue's 1955 essay The Future of Irish Music, and has substantial sections devoted to Seán Ó Riada and A. J. Potter. It also addresses the subsequent radio series Composers in Conversation (1988, introduced by Dermot Rattigan) and compares it with the previous series.

In addition, the book's introductory chapter, Music in Ireland in the 1920s, looks at the question of ‘A School of Irish Music?' and whether Irish composers were or are 'indentured' to ideas of Irishness, or to Ireland as a sense of place.

The book comes with a searchable data CD in Excel fomat listing 2185 recordings of works by Irish composers held by RTÉ Sound Archives. The works are listed by composer, title, date of composition, date of recording, genre and performing artists.

Music and Broadcasting in Ireland by Richard Pine is now available from Four Courts Press. Published October 2005, 500pp.

Posted: 12 December 2005