New John Kinsella Orchestral Release Launched
The Arts Council and RTÉ launched a new CD of orchestral works by Irish composer and Aosdána member John Kinsella on 11 October as part of the Composers of Ireland series on the RTÉ Lyric FM label. This series has previously featured orchestral music by Gerald Barry, Ian Wilson, Deirdre Gribbin, Raymond Deane and Seóirse Bodley.
The new CD features performances by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Kinsella’s Symphony No. 6 and Symphony No. 7, his Cúchulainn and Ferdia: Duel at the Ford (the title of which echoes the Louis Le Brocquy painting adorning the CD cover), and the ‘Prelude and Toccata for String Orchestra’, the latter originally written as a string quartet for the 2007 West Cork Chamber Music Festival.
The disc takes in the range of Kinsella’s work over the past two decades, with the earliest piece, the sixth symphony, dating from 1992, and the latest, Cúchulainn and Ferdia, having received its world premiere at a Gala Concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra on 4 April 2008.
The Composers of Ireland series is currently scheduled to run to five more releases, with orchestral portrait discs of Donnacha Dennehy, Kevin Volans, Kevin O’Connell, Stephen Gardner and Elaine Agnew due for future release. The series is jointly funded by RTÉ and the Arts Council.
John Kinsella. Photo: Eugene Langan.
Published on 17 October 2011