NEW MUSIC DUBLIN 2021 —1—
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Chamber Choir Ireland at New Music Dublin Conductor Andrew Synnott
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Programme David Fennessy (Ireland b. 1976) chOirland Caroline Shaw (USA b. 1982) and the swallow IRISH PREMIERE Pablo Ortiz (Argentina b.1956) Leaving Limerick in the Rain EU PREMIERE Rhona Clarke (Ireland b.1958) A Bit of Nonsense WORLD PREMIERE Ed Bennett (Ireland b.1975) No Noise, Nor silence (but one equal music) WORLD PREMIERE David Fennessy (Ireland b.1976) Ne Reminiscaris (Remember Not) Siobhán Cleary (Ireland b. 1970) Theophilus Thistle and the Myth of Miss Muffet
THE PROGRAMME WILL RUN FOR C. 55 MINS
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Celebrating some of the best contemporary choral music from Ireland in recent years! Headlining the programme with David Fennessy’s chOirland – written for Chamber Choir Ireland in 2002, the programme made up of everything from John Donne to nonsense text and tongue twisters. Programmed by CCI’s Artistic Director, Paul Hillier, and following on from CCI’s 2021 St Patrick’s Day series ‘Celebrating Irish Composers’, we revisit some of the highlights of Chamber Choir Ireland’s Irish commissions with Siobhán Cleary’s Theophilus Thistle and the Myth of Miss Muffet, and David Fennessy’s Ne Reminiscaris from Triptych – recorded on the Naxos 2020 release Letters, and introduces the world premiere of Ed Bennett’s No Noise, Nor Silence (co-commissioned with Music For Galway/Galway 2020) and Rhona Clarke’s A Bit of Nonsense, as well as the Irish premiere of Caroline Shaw’s and the swallow and Pablo Ortiz’s Leaving Limerick in the Rain with text from Richard Blanco’s poem of the same name.
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chOirland David Fennessy (Ireland b. 1976) All the words in chOirland are nonsense lyrics taken from the choruses of traditional Irish songs and ballads. I didn’t grow up singing these songs and traditional music was never a big part of my musical life. In fact, it seems the only time I ever hear them now is when I’m in Irish bars here in Britain or in Irish gift shops where, almost inaudibly, they gently prod with their shillelagh sticks at my Irisho’meter sometimes resulting in an impromptu jig or reel or my standing on a chair and reciting the great speeches of Wolfe Tone. I kind of like my Irish badge, though – all leafy, greeny, plasticy – and play along with its tomfoolery more than I probably ought to. But, like an old friend who I take for granted, I’m sometimes mean to it and end up taking the Mick – to be sure, to be sure. DAVID FENNESSY
and the swallow Caroline Shaw (USA b. 1982) From Psalm 84 how beloved is your dwelling place, o lord of hosts my soul yearns, faints, my heart and my flesh cry out the sparrow found a house, and the swallow her nest, where she may raise her young the pass through the valley of bakka they make it a place of springs the autumn rains also cover it with pools
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Leaving Limerick in the Rain Pablo Ortiz (Argentina b.1956) Next to me a bearded man in a cap sleeps, his brow, thick hands tell a story resting on the broken spine of a book facedown on his lap, parted to words he couldn’t finish—too droll or terrifying for him, perhaps. I wonder if his eyes are green as ferns or brown as dirt, if they are dreaming of tigers or moonlight echoes or the timbre of his father’s voice. I wonder if he’s leaving home or returning. Maybe he’s a stranger like me among strangers between points on the earth to which these tracks are nailed. Where I am, where I’m going, doesn’t matter. What matters is the poem in the window, a blurred watercolor where tree is chimney, chimney is cloud cloud is brick, brick is puddle, puddle is rain, and rain is me, refracted in each luscious bead. How impossible. How terrifyingly beautiful and free to be everything inside everything, never having to say I’m from here or there, never remembering my childhood home where I first played house, or the palm tree shadows down the street where I learned to ride bike, or my backyard with my father chasing fireflies caught like stars in a glass jar, or the room where I heard my voice first say, Richard, my name separating me from the world, the world suddenly fallen into geography, histories, weather, language, wars. RICHARD BLANCO
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A Bit of Nonsense Rhona Clarke (Ireland b.1958) I Dear Santa II Busy III Multitasking IV A Life The piece has four movements based on nonsense quotations found on the internet. Begun while on a residency at Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Co Monaghan in 2018, it was completed in 2020 following the composition an a cappella Requiem (also in four movements); it is as if it were an antidote both to the seriousness of that work and also of the general confined and depressed state of life due to the global pandemic. The settings take a tongue-in-cheek, serious musical approach with the use of a fugue in the second sentence of ‘Dear Santa’, the slow ‘Grave’ of ‘Busy’, layers of counterpoint in ‘Multitasking’ and the use of minimalist techniques in ‘A Life’. TEXTS – ANONYMOUS
I Dear Santa Dear Santa, This year I’d like a fat bank account and a thin body. Please don’t confuse the two like you did last time. II Busy It may look like I am doing nothing, but in my head I am quite busy. III Multitasking I can listen, ignore and forget at the same time: I’m multitasking! IV A Life Long time ago I used to have a life, (.) (That was) until someone told me to create a Facebook account. SOURCE: INTERNET – VARIOUS
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No Noise, Nor silence (but one equal music) Ed Bennett (Ireland b.1975) Commissioned by Music for Galway, Galway 2020 and Chamber Choir Ireland
A meditation based on a text by John Donne. The text, which is the same as the title, unfolds gradually as the music progresses. All voices of the choir are treated equally in an attempt to honour the words. The score is marked ‘meditative, like waves’.
Ed Bennett’s music is regularly performed and broadcast in over 30 countries; it was recently described in The Guardian as ‘unclassifiable, raw-nerve music of huge energy and imagination’ and by Sinfini Music as ‘one of the most scintillating voices to emerge of late from these Isles.’ His substantial body of work includes orchestral works, ensemble pieces, solo works, electronic music, opera, and works for dance and film. Recent highlights include ‘Psychedelia’ for the RTE NSO and Thomas Adès, ‘Ausland’ for the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Reinbert de Leeuw and performances at the Lincoln Centre, Carnegie Hall and London’s Southbank Centre. To date four critically-acclaimed portrait discs of his work have been released, the most recent of which ‘Psychedelia’ was described in The Times as ‘Deeply compelling music’ and by Gramophone as ‘unmistakably distinctive’. He directs his own ensemble, Decibel and was recently awarded the ACNI Major Individual Artist Award, the highest honour awarded to an artist from the region.
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Ne Reminiscaris (Remember Not) David Fennessy (Ireland b.1976) Commissioned by Cork International Choral Festival and Chamber Choir Ireland in 2017
Ne Reminiscaris is the second in a series of three works (Triptych) written for Chamber Choir Ireland over a period of four years from 2014 – 2018. Triptych was recorded by Chamber Choir Ireland under the direction of Paul Hillier and released on the Naxos label in November 2020 – ‘Letters’. The English text in this piece suggests a kind of awakening; from a coma perhaps, or a deep dream state. During the composition, I had read about many cases of people who had suffered acute amnestic disorders (loss of memory), and I became particularly interested in the idea of the ‘permanent present tense’. From occupying an unsettling no-man’s-land between consciousness and unconsciousness, the music grows towards something far more life affirming; an ecstatic sense of being alive and in the now. A short cadence from the sixth Penitential Psalm setting by Orlando Lassus seems to be caught in a loop. But out of this repetition comes growth too; a commitment to an idea, a search for fluency, the identification of the self. DAVID FENNESSY
Miserere mei Domine
(Have mercy upon me O Lord) for I am weak... awake... Hear my voice: I Am Here Now!
Miserere mei Domine Have mercy upon me O lord, quoniam infirmus sum: for I am weak: sana me Domine, Heal me, quoniam conturbata sunt ossa mea. for my bones are vexed.
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Patience, patience, patience…
Theophilus Thistle and the Myth of Miss Muffet Siobhán Cleary (Ireland b. 1970) The point of departure for this work lies in the tradition of word-games such as tongue-twisters, battologisms, spoonerisms and shibboleths.The structure follows a geographical area journeying from the Italian peninsula; north through Germany; south to the Iberian peninsula and west to Ireland. On first encounter, these wordgames have little meaning and indeed many of the ones included are a collection of nonsense words and merely exist because of the sheer pleasure in their articulation, as in the Catalan “tica-xica-mica”. Others contain words that are meaningful in themselves but become nonsensical because of their context, such as the Basque “Olagarroaren erro errea larra errean gora” which roughly translates as,“The cooked tentacle of the octopus on top of the burnt meadow”. However, many contain a rich provenance of times gone-by such as the genealogy of the important Clan Maclean (in Scottish Gaelic). Included among the more didactic tanglers are some sensible domestic economics from Lombardy, house building lore from Brittany and a lesson in tolerance in Irish. We meet a host of colourful characters such as Sasà from Sicily with her dubious sleeping patterns, while in Germany, the earthy Doffel brothers display their fraternal affection by carrying each other through the village dirt. There were casualties along the way as I could not include every language and dialect in this topographical region. Notably representations of languages that did not meet the final version include Jersey (“Mes moûques à myi m’êmoûquent un mio”. “My bees wake me up a bit”), Manx ( where they are known as “Cass-ockle”, literally, teethbreakers), Aragonese (“Baxa t’abaxo lo faxo xuto de buxo y traye lo trallo tallau y trestallau”. Bring down the dry bunch of box and fetch the tree trunk cut and split) and Welsh (“Mae Llewellyn y llyfrgellydd o Lanelli wedi llyfu llawer o lyfaint.”“Llewellyn, the librarian from Llanelli, licked many toads”). Apart from the title neither Theophilus Thistle or Miss Muffett make an appearance in the score. Reluctantly I also left out a host of their sibilant siblings who spent much time sitting and shining, or on seashores, selling sea-shells. I restricted myself to only one rather Poe-esque English twister which seemed atypical of the genre but I couldn’t resist its gothic feel. More typical were alliterative names with equally alliterative if obscure occupations such as Peter Piper who picked pecks of pickled peppers, Bitty Batter who bought bits of better butter to make bitter batter better, and Oliver Oglethorpe who for no apparent reason ogled owls and oysters. Theophilus Thistle himself was a successful thistle sifter. Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter, While sifting a sieve-full of unsifted thistles, Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb. Now if Theophilus Thistle, while sifting a sieve-full of unsifted thistles, Thrust three thousand thistles — 11 —
through the thick of his thumb, See that thou, while sifting a sieve-full of unsifted thistles, Thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb. Success to the successful thistle-sifter! The short tongue twister “The Myth of Miss Muffett” is derived from the nursery rhyme Little Miss Muffet. It is speculated that the young arachnophobe was the daughter of Thomas Muffet (1553–1604), an entomologist who wrote the first scientific catalogue of British native insects. The work ends appropriately enough with a blessing from a nomadic tribe, the Irish travelling community ; “Stafa tapa hu”. Long life to you.
Tongue Twisters and Translations Sicilian Sasà si susi ai sei. Sù i sei e sei, cusà si Sasà si susiu ai sei? Sasà wakes up at 6:00. It’s 6 past 6, who knows if Sasà woke up at 6:00 ? Italian Scopo la casa, la scopa si sciupa; ma, se non scopo sciupando la scopa, la mia casetta con cosa la scopo? I sweep the house, the broom breaks; but, if I don’t sweep breaking the broom, what do I sweep my little house with? Italian Un pezzo di pizza che puzza nel pozzo del pazzo di pezza. A piece of pizza is stinking in the well of the madman of rags. Sardinian Ti brinco a coddos o ti coddo a brincos? Shall I jump on your back or shall I mount by jumping Lombard Hich hach de hoch hech hecacc al hul höl höl è car aca a ca. Five sacks of dry woods dried by sunlight in the attic are valued at home too Rhaeto-Romance Tschuntschientschuncontatschun tschancs tschufs. 555 dirty sheep
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German Der dicke dumme Doffel, trug den dünnen dummen Doffel, durch den tiefen dicken Dorfdreck. Da dankte der dünne dumme Doffel dem dicken dummen Doffel, daß der dicke dumme Doffel, den dünnen dummen Doffel, durch den tiefen dicken Dorfdreck trug. The fat stupid Doffel carried the thin stupid Doffel through the deep thick village dirt.Whereupon the thin stupid Doffel thanked the fat stupid Doffel that the fat stupid Doffel carried the thin stupid Doffel through the deep thick village dirt. Luxembourgish Hengen hiren Haari heet Houltz hannert hierem hei’gen Haus. Hien hei’ert honnert hongrech Holzemer Houe’sen houschten. Henry from the Hengen-House is chopping wood behind this high (big) house. He hears a hundred hungry rabbits from Holzem (village near-by) coughing Dutch Vissers die vissen naar vissen en vissers die vissen die vangen vaak bot. De vissen waar de vissende vissers naar vissen, vinden vissers die vissen vervelend en rot! Fishermen that go fishing for fish and fishermen who fish often catch flounders. The fish that the fishing fishermen fish for, find fishermen that go fishing annoying and beastly. Frisian Bûter, brea en griene tsiis Hwa dat net sizze kin is gjin oprjochte Fries. Butter, rye bread and green cheese: those who unable to say this are not real Frisians West Flemish Toet toet te tit tat tut es. Yes yes it is time that it is finished. French Les chaussettes de l’archi-duchesses sont-elles sèches, archi-sèches? Are the archduchess’ socks dry, very dry? Occitan Tap tarat taparà, tap pas tarat taparà pas. A plug/cork with a good waist will plug/fit, a plug/cork with a bad waist will not plug/fit.
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Breton Pa ri ti to, to pa ri ti. Cover (that) when you make the house, when you make the house cover (that) Catalan Una gallina tica-xica-mica, cama-curta i ballarica, va tenir tres pollets, tics-xics-mics, cama-curts i ballarics. Si la gallina no hagués estat tica-xica-mica, cama-curta i ballarica, els tres pollets no serien tics-xics-mics, cama-curts i ballarics. A tica-xica-mica (nonsense words), short-legged and dancing hen, had three tics-xics- mics, short- legged and dancing chicks. If the hen hadn’t been tica-xica-mica, short- legged and dancing hen, the chicks wouldn’t have been tics-xics-mics, short-legged and dancing chicks. Spanish Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal: un tigre, dos tigres, tres tigres. Three sad tigers ate wheat on a wheat field: one tiger, two tigers, three tigers. Basque Olagarroaren erro errea larra errean gora The cooked tentacle of the octopus on top of the burnt meadow. (To be said ten times in just one breath) Galecian Se vou a Bueu vou nun bou, sen non vou a Bueu non vou nun bou If I go to Bueu I will go in a fishing boat, if I don’t go to Bueu I won’t go in a fishing boat Portugese Compadre compre pouca capa parda porque quem pouca capa parda compra pouca capa parda gasta. Eu pouca capa parda comprei e pouca capa parda gastei. Buddy, buy few grey capes, because one who buys few grey capes, few grey capes spends. I bought a few grey capes, and few grey cape I spent. English Admidst the mists and coldest frosts, With stoutest wrists and loudest boasts, He thrusts his fists against the posts, And still insists he sees the ghosts. Cornish yma nown bleyth dhymm I’ve got the hunger of a wolf — 14 —
Cockney “Cop a flower pot!” To get into serious trouble. (Suggested by the effect of a flower pot dropped from a window on to someone below.) Scots “Nippit fit an clippit fit Ahint the keeng’s son rides; But bonny fit an pretty fit Ahint the caudron hides.” Scots Gaelic Eachann, Lachann, Lachann, Eachann, Eachann, Lachann,Teàrlach. Eachann, Lachann, Lachann, Eachann, Eachann, Lachann,Teàrlach. the names of the Clan Maclean Eachann, Lachann etc.. Performance instruction : “Like a dog eating broth”, Irish An bhfacha tú an bacach, nó an bhfacha tú a mhac? Ní fhaca mé an bacach is ní fhacha mé a mhac, ach dá bhfeicfinnse an bacach nó dá bhfeicfinnse a mhac, ní bhacfainn leis an bacach is ní bhacfainn lena mhac! Did you see the beggar or did you see his son? I didn’t see the beggar nor did I see his son, but if I should see the beggar or should I see his son, I’d ignore the beggar and I’d ignore his son! Shelta Stafa tapa hu Long life to you.
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People Artistic Director Paul Hillier Guest Director Andrew Synnott Patron Michael D Higgins President of Ireland
Sopranos Abbi Temple Felicity Hayward Charlotte Trepess Elizabeth Hilliard*
Chief Executive Majella Hollywood
Altos Christina Whyte Leanne Fitzgerald Stephen Wallace Mark Chambers*
Board of Directors Olga Barry Bea Kelleher Susan Lannigan Alastair Rankin Brian Walsh (Chair) Richard Twomey
Tenors Alan Leech Stuart Kinsella Shane Barriscale Christopher Bowen* Basses Jeffrey Ledwidge Paul McGough Eoghan Desmond William Gaunt *Deputy
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Concerts’ Manager David Darcy
Andrew Synnott Guest Director Andrew Synnott is a composer, arranger and conductor based in Dublin. He is the chorus master and artist in residence at Wexford Festival Opera. He has conducted operas for Irish National Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre Company and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. His arrangements of La bohème, Susanna’s Secret and The Magic Flute have toured extensively in Ireland and the UK. He has conducted and been musical director for opera productions at the Buxton Opera Festival, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and in Australia, Portugal and France. Andrew has conducted and arranged several musicals, notibly the works of Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd, Company, Into the Woods, Merrily We Roll Along). He is a former artistic director and conductor of Crash Ensemble, a group he co-founded in 1997. He has conducted many orchestras and choirs, including Chamber Choir Ireland, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. In January 2015 he conducted the premiere of his first opera, Breakdown, in the NCH in Dublin. His second opera, Dubliners, was premiered at Wexford Festival Opera in 2017 and was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award in the Best Opera category. His opera, La cucina, became the first opera by a living Irish composer to be premiered on the main stage at Wexford Festival Opera 2019. His latest opera, What Happened To Lucrece, was filmed and broadcast digitally as part of last year’s Wexford Opera Festival. — 17 —
Chamber Choir Ireland ‘It was at once a sheerly beautiful immersion in choral sonority’ IRISH TIMES, MARCH 2019 Beethoven, featuring the Crash Ensemble and Stephen Richardson on the Orchid Classics label. The most recent release garnering a 5-star review in the Irish Times was Letters which included the CCI commission Triptych by David Fennessy and A Letter of Rights by Tarik O’Regan & Alice Goodman on the Naxos label (November 2020).
Garnering a strong reputation for its unique approach to creative commissioning, recording and programming, Chamber Choir Ireland is the country’s flagship choral ensemble and national chamber choir under the Artistic Direction of the multiaward-winning conductor, Paul Hillier. The Choir’s programmes span from early renaissance to the present day, incorporating established choral classics with cutting edge commissions, and a style of performance that incorporates versatility, dynamism and often vocal pyrotechnics.
Chamber Choir Ireland has a strong Learning and Participation programme, including in Composers in the Classroom, Choral Sketches, Sing! at Axis:Ballymun and a lecture series on the history of choral music in Ireland.
Chamber Choir Ireland performances have been described as having a tone which is ‘liquid in its power and purity’ with a ‘strong vocal flexibility of style’ (Belfast Telegraph). The Choir has a strong commitment to touring in Ireland and continues to develop its touring network in order to present high quality choral concerts to audiences around the country. International touring has included the USA, UK, Belgium, Russia, Germany and South America.
Chamber Choir Ireland receives principal funding & support from the Arts Council/ an Chomhairle Ealaíon, is a resident ensemble at the National Concert Hall of Ireland, Associate Artists to Dublin City University, and a member of TENSO – the network of professional chamber choirs in Europe.
The choir has previously recorded for the Harmonia Mundi, RTE Lyric FM labels including the world premiere recording of works by Gerald Barry, Barry meets — 18 —
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Chamber Choir Ireland National Concert Hall Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2 telephone +353 (0) 1 554 5210 email admin@chamberchoirireland.com www.chamberchoirireland.com — 20 —