January 3, 2021

  • Not Just Minimal Sounds of Ireland

     

    Dave Flynn: Irish Minimalism
    Breanndan Begley, voice. Mick O-Brien, uilleann pipes.
    Contempo Quartet; IMO Quartet
    First Hand Records 116
    Total Time:  70:24
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Irish composer and guitarist Dave Flynn (b. 1977) is featured on this new release of contemporary chamber music.  Flynn is perhaps most known for his work with the Irish Memory Orchestra, though his compositions have also garnered critical acclaim.

    The Contempo Quartet is featured in the two string quartets on the album.  The opening work, The Cranning (String Quartet No. 2; 2004-2005), introduces the listener to this unique approach that moves beyond traditional minimalist technique and might be best hears as a new post-minimalist approach that melds in folkish performance gestures.  One can hear this from the very first bars of the opening movement, “Slip”, with its interesting, syncopated rhythms.  The repetition of these ideas connects a bit to that larger aesthetic, but it is in the energy of the music that the music brings an extra dramatic push.  There are open string-like sounds that also take cues from Irish fiddle playing, that style moves through the entire quartet with some often fascinating textural effects.  Within the musical material is also references to folk dance (Donegal) music which adds another unique flavor and continues to create an almost semi-improvisational feel. Flynn writes out these gestures which circle round on themselves in rather tonal writing.    The Keening (String Quartet No. 3; 2007) explores the more somber side of Flynn’s material with three movements that evoke ancient funeral singing.  The effect is equally stunning as the energy of the other works calms down allowing us to hear the more careful shifting of motives and harmony.  That said, this becomes a quite intense work whose final movement almost seems to have a Banshee-like howling motive as things further dissolve to chilling effect.  This particular work gets at the more intimate stylistic approach in Flynn’s style more so than those earlier pieces for a quite intense experience.

    The IMO quartet is joined by Mick O’Brien, a performer on uilleann pipes, first in a quintet, The Cutting (Quintet No. 1; 2008/2020).  The addition of the folk instrument into the string quarte texture adds a color that makes this quite Irish indeed.  It is helped by the addition of a sense of reels and a jig-like faster tempo.  One would be sure that we are hearing some long-lost folk tune.  The slides that make up the lyrical moments also take their inspiration from Irish fiddle practice.  The album closes with Stories from the Old World (2008) which now adds vocal text (as told by Peig Sayers, 1873-1958) that feature both spoken and sung texts, performed by Breanndan Begley, and uillean pipes to the string quartet sound.  The texts are in Kerry Gaelic dialect (translations are provided) which brings a sort of hybrid art song and folkish quality to the music.  It is a rather engrossing work that has the most filmic dramatic narrative flow.

    Irish Minimalism is an interesting, striking, and quite engaging collection of chamber music that simply does not sound like classical string quartet music.  This is due in part to Flynn’s focus on Irish folk music that is quite well-blended into the compositions.  The syncopated material brings this out while the melodic gestures have a semi-improvisational folkish quality.  Against this is the minimalist/post-minimalist application of repetition and subtle changes that are part of that aesthetic compositional approach.  In a way, these pieces return us full circle to the roots of what inspired that movement back in the 1960s and 1970s.  The music should appeal to both fans of Irish music as well as classical chamber music.  Those who have hears some of the Kronos Quartet albums, or are familiar with the film work of Clint Mansell will find a distant spirit in these pieces.

    The recording is also quite good and performances are equally excellent and committed.  It appears that these are recordings from about a decade ago.  The sound quality images the ensemble well moving through both channels and with the pipes and voice have a nice balance against that smaller ensemble.  The package comes with a nice booklet discussing the music and performers as well as including full texts and translations.  All of this is a the digipak.  Highly recommended.