Focus
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.
New Music: Style Crisis
The premiere of a new work by Stephen Gardner and recent CDs of the music of Frank Corcoran, Eric Sweeney and John Gibson.
Composition and Criticism
Last November, JMI published an article by composer and pianist Patrick Zuk on the ‘rather chaotic state of contemporary composition and criticism’. A response by composer Ian Wilson was published in the Jan-Feb issue. Here, Patrick Zuk offers his response to Ian Wilson’s criticisms.
Sirs William, Jack and Thomas...
In an extract from a major new book, The Cork Choral Festival 1954-2004, edited by Ruth Fleischmann, Irish composer Seoirse Bodley shares his memories of the Festival’s seminar on contemporary music through the years as well as his experiences of being a festival adjudicator. This article is an edited version of a conversation between the composer and Anne Fleischmann.
RTÉ Living Music Festival 2004
The weekend of 20-22 February saw the RTÉ Living Music Festival 2004 at the Helix in Dublin. Last year's very successful Berio-centred event appears to have set the pattern for the festival. This year some major works by Boulez were highlighted, but a number of Irish composers and ensembles were able to show their wares alongside their French contemporaries.
The Many Sides of the Drum
A new book by Gary Hastings on the fife and Lambeg drum tradition of the North of Ireland.
Good Listeners
New albums by The Tap Room Trio (Jesse Smith, Harry Bradley and John Blake) and Mick O'Brien and Caomhín Ó Raghallaigh.
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.