New Music Dublin 2019: Crash Ensemble - Free State 11

Free State is a very fine selection of up and coming composers chosen from an anonymous open call. It's brilliant for us to hear the work of composers at the very start of their careers and fascinating to see how new music from Ireland is evolving and developing. 

My piece Engines of Babel found its inspiration in the Biblical account found in Genesis 11 of the tower built by man to reach into the heavens, to contend with God. I wanted to explore the raucousness and chaos that can be achieved with a large chamber ensemble, and this seemed the appropriate topic. I've immensely enjoyed working with Crash and Grainne Mulvey. The opportunity to hear the sounds I'm writing has been a key part of the composition process, as many of the textures are highly complex and I needed to hear them live to properly grasp their character and shape. Since I knew there would be a collaborative process, this dictated the materials as I wanted to avail of the opportunity to produce new combinations of sound that I haven't tried before, with the chance to hear them and make changes before the completion of the work.

This piece deals with instability and fragility in sound, and the extremities of certain timbres, especially within the bass flute (which is the solo instrument here). This instability was key to the way the work came together as an ensemble piece. We, as agents in the musical community, are used to the design of an instrument being as stable as possible, so it becomes a challenge to find the instabilities in one’s own instrument and learn how to govern them. When combined within an ensemble, they enable new voices to be heard, and begin to resonate with each other. 

The concept of the piece is based on using the piano case to construct a new sound world based on exploring the sound and vibration effects the ensemble instruments have on the piano case, including the piano itself. Working with Crash Ensemble was crucial to explore and research what worked and to develop the concept and sound that I was hearing fully. It was of immense benefit to work with them and to bring the piece to its fruition.  

A lyrical piece mining the infinitely diverse pitch space to be found within a confined register. It results from a period of research into the application of fractal techniques to melodic contour; this implies an approach to microtonality where rather than a fixed goal (eg Just Intonation, or a set division of the octave), the music is explicitly about an endless and goal-free process of fine-tuning. This is the first time I have used many of the techniques here so it was very helpful to have the opportunity to workshop and refine this experimental material with the ensemble.