Grá agus Bás is the label debut from Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy featuring two works performed by the Dublin-based Crash Ensemble, conducted by Alan Pierson. The title track, which translates as ‘love and death’, is inspired by sean-nós or ‘old style’ Irish vocal music, the vocals performed by Irish singer Iarla Ó Lionáird. Soloist, Dawn Upshaw features on the song cycle That the Night Come, six settings of poems by W.B. Yeats.

The Book of Ways is a collaboration between composer Ian Wilson, saxophonist Cathal Roche and the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet. I-Ching, an ancient Chinese system of divination, forms the basis of a musical structure, devised by Roche and Wilson, that marries improvisation and notation, improviser and classical ensemble.

A disc of orchestral works by the 20th Century Irish composer Frederick May (1911-85), released by RTÉ lyric fm to mark the composer’s centenary year in 2011. The recordings feature the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with conductor Robert Houlihan and baritone soloist Owen Gilhooley.

A new lyric fm release of four works for orchestra by John Kinsella, performed by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra ahead of the composer’s 80th birthday in 2012. John Kinsella: Orchestral Works is the sixth release in the Composers of Ireland Series funded by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon and RTÉ.