Join us for this free lunchtime concert in the delightful surrounds of the National Botanic Gardens. Fidelio Trio and renowned violist Jane Atkins will showcase compelling new works by the innovative Irish composers Siobhán Cleary, Fergal Dowling, and Gráinne Mulvey, which have been inspired by the beautiful oasis of the gardens. This unmissable event will also feature Alfred Schnittke’s absorbing String Trio (1985) and Italian composer Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen’s String Trio Op 1 (c. 1770). A concert not to be missed!
Saturday, November 25, 2023
1:00 PM–2:00 PM
National Botanic Gardens (map)
Programme
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen: String Trio Op 1
Fergal Dowling: Species (World premiere)
Siobhán Cleary: Will o' the Wisp (World premiere)
Gráinne Mulvey: Echium Pininana “Tower of Jewels” (World premiere)
Alfred Schnittke: String Trio, Movement II – Adagio
Performers: Darragh Morgan (violin), Jane Atkins (viola), Tim Gill (cello)
Programme Notes
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen, String Trio in C Major op.1 no. 2
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818) was an Italian composer, violinist and singer. Born in Venice she studied at the Ospedali Grandi which trained orphaned girls in music and she studied with the virtuoso violinist Giuseppe Tartini. Her String Trio no 2 is one of a set of six and stands as a testament to the skill and artistry of this 18th-century Italian composer and violinist. Through marriage to the well-known violinist Ludovico Sirmen, she gained the opportunity to travel and perform as a duo and was supported in her role as a composer. At that time she won acclaim and recognition across Europe. While her music is not as well-known now, it is well worth discovering as it reflects a mastery of the classical style.
Vivace
Menuetto
The opening movement showcases Sirmen's melodic inventiveness and command of counterpoint. The second an expressive dance movement is completed by the final trio, which demonstrates Sirmen's ability to infuse energy and wit into her compositions.
Sirmen's String Trio, while rooted in the classical traditions of her era, reveals her unique voice through nuanced phrasing and engaging thematic development. Rediscovering and performing works like hers contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the rich musical landscape of the 18th century and the significant contributions of women composers.
Fergal Dowling, Species for solo violin
The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland is not far from my home in Drumcondra, and I have visited regularly all my life. The Gardens can overwhelm the first-time visitor with the abundance and variety of colour, shape and form.
The collection can also overwhelm by repetition, by demonstrating both the variety and cohesion of form within species. While a species is the fundamental category of taxonomic classification of organisms, there seems to be near endless variety within this most fundamental category.
When I try to conceive of the idea of a “species”, I imagine a continuous line of individuals, stretching back into the past, but at the same time I also imagine a cluster of contemporaneous individuals. These ways of conceptualising a “species” have close parallels in musical form. In this piece I devised a series of lines, themselves composed of discrete points, which together evolve, emerge, and sprout into new variations of themselves, each one qualifying and confirming the last.
Siobhán Cleary: Will O’ The Wisp for solo violin
“He flits; and with a whippoorwill
Mouth calls, and seems to syllable,
"Come follow me! come follow me!”
“Will O’ The Wisp “- Madison Julius Cawein 1896
The Will O’ The Wisp for solo violin is a flame-like phosphorescence caused by gases from decaying plants in marshy areas. In folklore, a Will O’ The Wisp, or ignis fatuus (Latin for 'foolish flame’) is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes. The most general folkloric belief in Ireland, is that they are spirits of a mischievous and often malevolent nature, luring unwary travellers into dangerous situations.
Gráinne Mulvey, Echium Pininana for violin and fixed media
Visiting the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin, I was particularly struck by the Echium Pininana, the “Tower of Jewels”, a plant native to La Palma in the Canary Islands. I was intrigued by the rosette of lanceolate leaves at the base of the plant that had silvery hairs and how the plant organically grew to a spike covered with blue flowers. This development from leaves to cone inflorescence, to flowers at the top, was fascinating and so visually explicit!
I decide to base this piece on an artistic representation on this growth process, using some of the measurements of the leaves and shoots to derive rhythmic proportions, allied to a harmonic progression related to the open strings of the violin––a musical analogue of the way the trunk of the plant relates to the spire of blue flowers at the top.
Reflecting the wispy, “hairy” appearance of the leaves near the base, the piece opens in the highest tessitura, with little definite pitch being perceptible to transcend the full range of the strings from the lowest to the highest, depicting the 200,000+ seedlings that scatter to the wind.
Grateful thanks to Darragh, Fergal Dowling and the Arts Council.
A Schnittke: String Trio, Movement II, Adagio
Alfred Schnittke's (1934-1998) String Trio stands as a poignant testament to the composer's distinctive voice within the realm of contemporary classical music. Composed in 1985, the work exemplifies Schnittke's characteristic blend of modernist techniques and a deep engagement with historical forms. This String Trio stands as a compelling testament to the composer's distinctive voice and his ability to weave a tapestry of contrasting emotions. Schnittke explores the expressive possibilities of the string instruments, creating a space for introspection and introspective lyricism. The piece weaves together moments of stark, angular aggression with passages of haunting lyricism, creating a dramatic sonic landscape. While the full trio comprises four movements, each with its own evocative character and connected through the lilting opening dance theme, this performance of the evocative 2nd movement has a strong elegiac character. It is a meditation on the themes of this work that build to a final outburst with a returning dissonant chorale as the viola sounds a final elegiac call. The work's intensity and structural complexity demand the utmost precision from performers, making it a challenging yet rewarding experience for both musicians and audiences.
This event is presented in partnership with the National Botanic Gardens and the Office of Public Works.