Focus
Into the Twilight: Arnold Bax and Ireland
'And in a moment the Celt within me stood revealed,' wrote the English composer Arnold Bax on reading Yeats in 1902. But what really was Arnold Bax's relationship with Ireland? Is it true that Ireland was incapable of responding to his music? Just over fifty years since this intruiging figure died in Cork, Irish composer Séamas de Barra looks at his life and music, and his infatuation with Ireland...
Young Composers' Collective
The background to the newly established YCC.
An Interview with Fiddle-Player Frankie Gavin
In 1976, Frankie Gavin, made one of the outstanding fiddle albums of the latter half of the twentieth century, Traditional Dance Music of Ireland with bouzouki player Alec Finn. Since then, through his solo and duet work, as well as performances with the group Dé Danann, he has proved to be a unique, creative talent as well as one of Ireland’s most dynamic traditional musicians. His influence on Irish traditional fiddle playing, in technique, style and repertoire, has been profound.With Dé Danann recently disbanded, the Galway fiddle-player has just released a four-CD collection of live performances, featuring Stephane Grappelli, Gary Hastings, Joe Derrane, Máirtín O’Connor and Carl Hession. Here, Toner Quinn interviews the virtuoso about his recordings through the years and his projects for the future.
Artists Left Stranded by the Drying Up of Myth
In the latter part of his essay ‘The Search for Samhita’ (JMI, November-December) Benjamin Dwyer wonders ‘what the role of the artist might be in a Western contemporary society dominated by technology’. Specifically, he speculates on...
Tradition and Aspiration
Fiddle-player Martin Hayes on traditional music in the twenty-first century
Crisis? What Crisis?
In the last issue of JMI, composer Patrick Zuk argued that contemporary music composition is in crisis. Composer and Artistic Director of the 2004 Sligo Contemporary Music festival, Ian Wilson, bats back...
Needed: Flight Simulator
Would-be orchestral musicians in Ireland are at a disadvantage – despite several attempts over the years to address the problem, there is no training orchestra or postgraduate diploma in orchestral studies which could prepare players for positions in Irish orchestras.
Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin – An Dealg Óir/The Golden Thorn
Oriel’s RefloweringAn Dealg Óir/The Golden ThornPádraigín Ní Uallacháin(Gael Linn CEFCD 183)In his introduction to The Hidden Ireland, published in 1925, Daniel Corkery wrote that until ‘a comprehensive study...
Crash and Bang...
The 2003 Crash Festival at the Project (Dublin) presented a wide range of formats and activities, from solo piano to video + electronics + percussion to interview. Responses too were varied. Reporting for the JMI, Barra Ó Seaghdha presents one set of variations on a festival theme.