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Irish Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Louth Contemporary Music Society: Echoes review – Astonishing musicianship brings Bernhard Lang's iridescent microtonal worlds to life
Louth Contemporary Music Society: Echoes Various venues, Dundalk ★★★★☆ What comes to mind when you think of echoes? The sound of your voice reverberating across a valley? The lingering, soupy effect of any loud music fading in a cathedral? The repetitions of minimalism? Acts of homage, maybe Ravel's piano pieces 'in the manner of' Borodin and Chabrier? Schumann referencing Chopin in his Carnaval? The large canon of pieces reviving or reworking the styles of earlier periods? The main focus of Louth Contemporary Music Society 's Echoes festival is the work of the Austrian composer Bernhard Lang (born 1957), who studied philosophy and literature as well as music, has worked as an improviser and jazz-band arranger, and has a special interest in electronics and microtonal music. He is a perfect fit for the festival's theme. His Differenz/Wiederholung (Difference/Repetition) series was prompted by an interest in looping and the work of turntable artists. The eighth work in the series, now more than 20 years old, is for 'orchestral loops' and two turntable soloists. 'I found the idea of erratic, asymmetrical loops simply fascinating,' he wrote, 'especially those which emerged when the needle jumped, or the jittering of a broken CD player.' The Dundalk festival has no orchestra at hand, so the concerts feature three works on a much smaller scale. The first, Game 8-4-8 'Silver Light', a piece for which there is no score, just individual parts, is for amplified guitar quartet, the altogether astonishing Aleph Guitar Quartet . The composer references the mobiles of the Polish composer Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and the American composer Christian Wolff, whose music has been described as 'an open invitation all the time'. READ MORE For Silver Light, think of rules that produce unpredictable outcomes. But think of those outcomes as being a microtonal fantasy world in which individual notes and unusual timbres can brush off each other to produce tensions and shadings that sound entirely new. The music has something of the fascination of a distorting mirror, or perhaps the reflections from a pile of shards from a distorting mirror. Nothing is quite what it seems to be. Echoes: Daisy Press. Photograph: Mark Grochowski The Cold Trip, Part 1, is a 'meta-composition' based on Schubert's song cycle Winterreise. Or, rather, one based on the composer's lingering memories of Winterreise. This approach echoes the Argentinian composer Mauricio Kagel's 1982 score for Un Chien Andalou, the surreal film, from 1928, by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. At a lecture he gave in Dublin, Kagel explained that he binge-watched the film more than a dozen times and then, without referencing it any further, wrote his music for it. The Cold Trip, Part 1, is obsessive and repetitive yet also highly selective, as if it's the work of someone who is having difficulty exorcising earworms that came from Schubert. The singer in this work, the American soprano Daisy Press , moves freely between sometimes sensational acrobatics and deeply penetrating plaintiveness. Echoes: Daan Vandewalle performing at St Nicholas's Church, in Dundalk. Photograph: Tim Shearwood Lang's Monadologie XXXVI, inspired by Chopin's 12 Etudes, Op 10, were written for the Belgian pianist Daan Vandewalle , whose finger fluency might be compared to a roadrunner running along at cartoon speed. These pieces have been reworked before, most notably in the 53 studies by Leopold Godowsky, though Godowsky, one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, doesn't ever go remotely near the loops of Lang's remix. Even with Vandewalle's wizardry, the piece seems somehow black and white after the iridescent microtonal worlds of the other two works. Echoes: Chamber Choir Ireland. Photograph: Ruth Medjber The highlight of the rest of the festival comes from the Swiss-born Austrian composer Beat Furrer (born 1954). Enigmas, written for youth choir and splendidly performed by Chamber Choir Ireland under Nils Schweckendiek, sets texts by Leonardo da Vinci using avant-garde techniques with more than a smattering of romanticism.
Irish Independent
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Louth Contemporary Musical Society's annual music festival returns to Dundalk this June
Founded in 2006 by Eamonn Quinn and Gemma Murray, Louth Contemporary Music Society (LCMS) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing world-renowned contemporary musicians, composers, and performers to Co. Louth. Now in its 11th year, the festival continues to spotlight world-class international composers while cultivating dynamic collaborations and new commissions between leading international and Irish artists. Over the years, the festival has attracted some of the most prestigious names in contemporary music, including Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, Kaija Saariaho, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Rebecca Saunders. The 2025 festival promises to be another landmark event, exploring the theme of Echoes - how repetition can bring both comfort and unease, sparking reflection on the resonance of the past in the present. "Echoes explores how repetition can be both hypnotic and unsettling, a theme woven throughout this year's festival. We're excited to welcome extraordinary musicians to Dundalk, many for the first time, and present performances that challenge and inspire," Eamonn said. The festival kicks off on Friday, June 13 with The Cold Trip Part 1 by Austrian composer Bernhard Lang, a master of echoes, performed by Aleph Guitar Quartet and American singer Daisy Press at An Táin Arts Centre. This reimagining of Schubert's Winterreise sets the tone for an unforgettable weekend of music and discovery. The following day the festival offers a full day of musical exploration beginning at 1pm when Belgian pianist Daan Vandewalle presents Bernhard Lang's Monadologie series at St. Nicholas' Church of Ireland, where he transforms Chopin's Études through repetition and variation. This will be followed at 3pm when Moon on the Sea will be performed by Daisy Press and Aleph Guitar Quartet in the Chapel at St. Vincent's Secondary School, featuring Czech composer Martin Smolka's ethereal settings of Basho's poetry alongside a new composition. The action moves to The Spirit Store at 5pm for Nico and John Cale's The Marble Index as Apartment House with Francesca Fargion reinterpret Nico and founding member of the Velvet Underground John Cale's 1968 album The Marble Index, blending electric and medieval sounds in a dynamic live performance. The festival closes at St. Nicholas' Church of Ireland at 8pm when Songs of the Soul is performed by Chamber Choir Ireland under Nils Schweckendiek. This performance features contemporary choral works from Irish composer Kevin Volans and the world premiere of a new work from Canadian composer Sarah Davachi. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more Festival founder Eamonn Quinn is renowned for his ability to present cleverly curated contemporary music in an engaging and accessible way. His passion for the genre earned him the prestigious 2018 Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music, one of Europe's most significant awards for artistic creation. LCMS has also made its mark in recorded music, with its release Folks' Music named one of The New Yorker's Notable Classical Recordings of 2023. David Lang's just (after song of songs), an LCMS Arts Council-funded commission, was featured in Paolo Sorrentino's film Youth and sampled by English band The xx for their song Lips. The festival organisers are committed to keeping ticket prices affordable, making the festival accessible to a broader audience and encouraging those new to contemporary music to experience the genre. Echoes promises to be a remarkable gathering of some of the world's best contemporary musicians, and LCMS invites both seasoned festivalgoers and newcomers to join them for a weekend of boundary-pushing performances. Funded by the Arts Council and supported by Louth County Council.
