Through the Digital Door: July 2024
This issue of Through the Digital Door is inspired by the spectacular celebrations last weekend in France, which brought the arrival of the Olympic torch in Paris together with the annual Bastille Day festivities.
Since 2016, the Centre Culturel Irlandais and CMC Ireland have partnered on an annual composer residency at the Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI) on Rue des Irlandais in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. This co-funded residency is awarded to two CMC-represented composers, who apply for the opportunity through an annual open call. The residency includes provision for travel, accommodation and a stipend for each composers' one month stay.
In this post, we highlight works in the Library catalogue from past CCI composers-in-residence.
Michael Gallen - Wilde Stories (2016)
This work is a collection of five movements inspired by different stories by Oscar Wilde. This seemed appropriate as this summer marks 140 years since Wilde visited Paris! The first movement, 'A Hidden Delight,' which you can listen to below, is an immersive piece that captures the feeling of dipping away out of the street and into the shade of one of Paris’s many hidden courtyards.
The work was recorded at the RTÉ Radio Centre in Donnybrook for broadcast on RTÉ lyric FM in July 2016. In this recording, we hear Rachel Croash (soprano), Evan Lawrence (boy soprano), with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, led by Mia Cooper and conducted by Gavin Maloney.
You can listen to the full work on Michael’s Soundcloud page. Find the score here.
The Centre Culturel Irlandais, view from the courtyard. Source: Centre Culturel Irlandais.
Irene Buckley - For Maurice (2012)
This short, reflective work for piano by our most recent CCI composer-in-residence, Irene Buckley, is a meditation on 'Pie Jesu' from 'Requiem,' Op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé. Medieval and plainchant elements from the 'Pie Jesu' can be heard throughout the piece.
Here, it is performed by Michael McHale on June 16th, 2012, in the Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall, Dublin.
For more information on the work, to purchase or see sample pages of the score, visit the CMC website here.
The pleasure of dawdling through a new place is a universal one, but in Paris, it is possible to upgrade one’s level of sauntering to that of a flâneur! In his introductory notes, David quotes American author Edmund White’s definition of a flâneur as ‘a stroller, a loiterer, someone who ambles through a city without apparent purpose but is secretly attuned to the history of the place and in covert search of adventure, aesthetic or erotic.’
He describes his work as:
a stroll through a musical Paris populated by Debussy, Ravel, Messaien, Stravinsky, Takemitsu and Edith Piaf. Along the way, connections between those musical citizens and my own journey are made through quotation, transformation and allusion. I set out to compose Flâneur with no preordained ideas about its form, and instead allowed myself to write the piece that could be written with the time I had – to stroll through the French-hued sketches I had created.
Join the RAM Manson Ensemble for a stroll in this extract:
This was recorded in April 2011 at the David Josefowitz Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London, England and was conducted by Benedikt Hayoz.
To purchase or see sample pages of the score, visit the CMC website here.
Karen Power - sonic pollinators (2017)
Of course, the ultimate flâneurs are our beloved pollinators, whose very existence hangs on stopping to smell the roses.
‘sonic pollinators’ by Karen Power was commissioned by Offaly County Council as part of the Heritage Plan for 2017 - 2022, to promote the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.
In her blog post about the work’s creation, she writes:
I made multiple visits to listen and make full frequency recordings of bees, plants and their surrounding habitats. Every place has its own character and sense of time, this for me is palpable, most especially in more isolated, less human spaces.
She invites us to “Listen to any of these spaces where nature and surroundings simply coexist.” Click on the image to listen:
This work was premiered at the Tullamore Arts Centre by the Quiet Music Ensemble, comprised of John Godfrey, Roddy O' Keefe, Isle de Ziah, Dan Bodwell and Karen Power in 2017.
Image: From '...we return to ground...' CD booklet. Photography by John Godfrey.
‘sonic pollinators’ features on the album ‘...we return to ground’, which you can listen to on Bandcamp. Score details can be found on the CMC website here.