The Dublin International Chamber Music Festival this year kicks off with a performance at the culturally significant Richmond Barracks in Inchicore, an area which once saw the court-marshalling of Irish Uprising leaders in 1916. The barracks, currently operating as a centre for culture and arts, has been beautifully preserved notwithstanding its turbulent history.
The festival interestingly coincides with a book by Mary McAuliffe and Liz Gillis, highlighting the journey of the 77 women who were involved in the historical uprising. Similarly, the festival’s programme, this year orchestrated by Irish clarinettist Carol McGonnell and the renowned Jack Quartet of the US, exclusively features works by female composers.
McGonnell’s performances comprise of ‘Meridians’, an innovative clarinet quintet by Irish composer Ann Cleare, and ‘Duft’, a solo piece by the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. The tribute to Saariaho, who passed away the previous year aged 70, was an intentional decision by McGonnell to honor the anniversary of her demise. She shared an affinity for Saariaho’s ‘Duft’ since she felt it complemented the music she had been enthusiastically playing by Ann Cleare over the past ten years.
McGonnell describes Cleare as a philosophical composer with a unique affinity for sound. She compares Cleare’s composition style to an intriguing musical puzzle, wherein each piece can be assembled differently to create a beautiful journey. McGonnell also applauds Cleare’s distinct ability to create structure in her music.
Cleare’s latest musical offering draws its inspiration from the very barracks where it will be performed. She interprets the historical barracks as a source of resonant energy and direction, reflected in the architectural design of her music. McGonnell appreciates Saariaho’s ‘Duft’, stating that through it, the composer managed to truly encapsulate the clarinet’s essence, aroma and its tactile appeal.
McGonnell speaks of Saariaho utilising sound and harmony in a distinctive manner, which she likens to the existence and movement of entire worlds or universes within a musical piece. Saariaho has reportedly shared her unique experience with synesthesia, not solely perceiving sound as colour but also as a tangible sensation, even having a distinct odour.
‘Duft’, a German word for scent, is relevant. Jörg Widmann, a renowned clarinettist and previous chief conductor of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, commissioned Saariaho to compose the piece in 2012 for the International Clarinet Competition in Freiburg. The main aim, says McGonnell, was to encapsulate the fundamental essence of the clarinet, adopting a sensory approach to convey its sound and curiously, its ‘smell’. This experimental approach, McGonnell explains, hasn’t been replicated by any other composer in such a profound sensory way.
Programming the Saariaho was seen by McGonnell as a distinctive contrast to Cleare’s unpublished work, which has been experiencing its own evolution. The new piece is intentionally designed for the setting at Richmond Barracks and involves considerable physical movement. McGonnell will be traversing the space, navigating through various stations before ultimately joining the quartet towards the ending part of the piece. The opportunity to work with the Jack Quartet has her excited, as it provides a refreshing break from her usual performance style, helping her explore new dimensions musically.
McGonnell and the quartet musicians have been associated for numerous years in New York and now for the first time, they will be uniting as a five-member team. According to Jack’s violist, John Pickford Richards, Cleare is well-known to them, having previously collaborated during her time at Harvard. Moreover, they had the opportunity to perform a piece she composed for the Diotima Quartet. Interestingly, in that arrangement too, the viola stood out distinctly from the other instruments, creating a fascinating spatial effect. The score for their latest piece, as observed by Richards, is unique yet stunningly beautiful. Cleare also shared a video highlighting the venue for their upcoming performance.
Richards categorises the music of Ruth Crawford Seeger, a renowned 20th century American composer, as futuristic and mentions how she pioneered innovative preserial techniques involving rhythm, dynamics and pitches. The Jack Quartet is also playing the only string quartet composed by Seeger, who was the stepmother of famed folk singer Pete Seeger. Richards expressed his amazement with the Seeger’s ahead-of-her-times composition techniques. He finds it intriguing that most people are unaware of how early she started, given the mid-century feel of her music. He admires the quartet, which he views as the apex of Seeger’s music.
The New York Times has lauded the Jack Quartet as a highly essential ensemble in contemporary music.
The program features another piece, Three Imaginary Chansons, composed by Juri Seo who is of Korean-American descent. The associates of the quartet have been familiar with her for a reasonable time, recognising her fascination with extended just intonation, an area of keen interest to them as well. The quartet belongs to Jack’s Modern Medieval Project investigating the ties between the compositions and thoughts of ancient European composers and today’s American musicality.
The composers of the past, Pickford Richards points out, produced extremely intricate and expertly written pieces, largely as a result of experimenting with notation. This allowed them to create unique, extraordinary pieces that closely resembles the style of today’s composers. He believes that Seo’s application of notation possibilities is highly advanced. The vibrancy, fun, emotive, and energetic quality of the Three Imaginary Chansons is commendable, as is its unusual yet beautiful resonating harmony.
The opening concert of the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival this year features Carol McGonnell and the Jack Quartet, playing pieces by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Kaija Saariaho, Juri Seo, and Ann Cleare. The event will be held at Richmond Barracks on Tuesday, June 4th, starting at 7.30pm, and the festival continues until Sunday, June 9th.