Composer and guitarist Dave Flynn is planning to release a recording of his three string quartets, one of which requires a quartet that involves musicians equally skilled in classical and Irish traditional music. 

The quartet of Aoife Ní Bhriain (violin), Niamh Varian-Barry (violin), Ciara Ní Bhriain (viola) and Cormac O’Brien (cello) recently recorded Stories from the Old World, a 20-minute work that fuses the sounds of strings, the uilleann pipes (performed by Aoife and Ciara’s father Mick O’Brien) and sean-nós singing (Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich). 

Produced by three time Grammy award-winning producer Judith Sherman, Flynn has now launched a Fund-It campaign to help release the recording. Rewards for funding the project include Flynn writing a range of compositions for the funder, from a single tune in a traditional Irish style to a composition for string quartet.

The other works on the recording will be his String Quartet No. 2 ‘The Cranning’ and String Quartet No. 3 ‘The Keening’ performed by the ConTempo Quartet.

For more information visit fundit.ie

 Listen below to the first movement (‘Slip’) from String Quartet No. 2.