Seminar on New Choral Music

The Seminar on New Choral Music maintains its central purpose as a commissioner and presenter of new works by Irish and international composers. These works will be analysed, performed, and discussed in the presence of the composers, conductors, singers, musicologists, students, and the general public with a view to understanding the integrity of the piece and the intentions of the composer. The new works receive their première performances at the festival. This year brings two new works to Cork by composers Roxanna Panufnik (England) and an, as yet unannounced, Irish composer who is the winner of the Seán Ó Riada Composition Competition. This competition captured the imagination of over thirty Irish composers and has excited us by the range and quality of entries. We are delighted to welcome both composers to Cork to take part in the Seminar.

Recent works include Pas De Quatre for string quartet which was commissioned by The Contemporary Music Centre as part of their New Notes project and performed by the ConTempo Quartet with a visual projection by artist Marie Hanlon. Current projects include a fifteen minute work for narrator, choir, two percussion, piano and double bass which will be performed by The University Of Minnesota choirs in October, conducted by Marion Doherty Hayden, and an a capella choral piece for Sydney Philharmonia Symphony Chorus to be performed in London in July 2010.

Rhona Clarke is a lecturer in music at St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, and a guest lecturer at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. In 2005 she was elected to Aosdána, Ireland’s state-sponsored academy of creative artists.

TWO POEMS BY WENDY

words: Wendy Cope music: Roxanna Panufni

the homeless hammer

I furious objects
the sick umbrella underneath the council chamber
and a cow in the washbasin
I rage, a cushion in captivity
the teapot will not break its bonds

II second sight in Brockwell Park
my toenails listen
to the soggy grass
mankind – a wind-tossed ice-cream wrapper
life a melancholy bus
I walk, I have these visions
and they are really quite depressing

III solitary beer-mat
the clock has lost its knitting, it needs a woman
eyes in the paving-stones are weeping
to see pink elephants in Norwood Road

Some Rules

Stop, if the car is going “clunk”

Or if the sun has made you blind.

Don’t answer emails when you’re drunk.

You fire off something fierce. You’re sunk.

It’s irretrievable. It’s signed.

You feel your spirits going “clunk”.

Don’t hide your face with too much gunk,

Especially if it’s old and lined.

Don’t answer emails when you’re drunk.

Don’t live with thirty years of junk –

Those precious things you’ll never find.

Stop, if the car is going “clunk”.

Don’t fall for an amusing hunk,

However rich, unless he’s kind.

Don’t answer emails when you’re drunk.

In this respect, I’m like a monk:

I need some rules to bear in mind.

Stop, if the car is going “clunk”.

Don’t answer emails when you’re drunk.

When conductor Paul Hiller asked me if I’d write a piece for The National Chamber Choir of Ireland and the Cork International Choral Festival, I was delighted at his suggestion of Wendy Cope texts. This will be the fourth collaboration between Wendy and I and although these poems were already written, Some Rules hadn’t been published yet.

The words of the homeless hammer were inspired by the poet hearing Boulez’s “Le Marteau san Maître” (“The Hammer without a Master”). Wendy has drawn on their highly esoteric nature and so I’ve echoed this hazy elusiveness in the music. Musically, there is a hint of serialism in I furious objects but I find the text rather sad and beautiful in II second sight in Brockwell Park. When I read III solitary beer-mat it immediately conjured the jollity of the music hall, so my music for this verse is an affectionate tribute to this genre.

When I first read Some Rules, the reoccurrence of “Stop” and “Don’t” kept catching my eye - my ear was hearing a rhythmic ostinato (repeated pattern) of those words which, as a result, have become the backbone of this setting.

Roxanna has a particular interest in world music – a recent culmination of this was “Abraham”, a violin concerto commissioned by Savannah Music Festival for Daniel Hope, incorporating Christian, Islamic and Jewish music. This was then converted into an overture, commissioned by the World Orchestra for Peace and premiered in Jerusalem under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

She is currently writing a new Four Seasons for violinist Tasmin Little. Other premieres later this year include a Shakespeare song cycle “The Generation of Love” with tenor Mark Padmore, Richard Watkins (horn) and pianist Julius Drake. Her third mass setting “Schola Missa de Angelis” for choir and brass octet is also in rehearsal, for its premiere in May.

Roxanna's compositions are published by Peter’s Edition Ltd and have been recorded by many companies including Warner Classics and EMI Classics.

Roxanna Panufnik’s work was commissioned for the Seminar on New Choral Music 2010 by the Cork International Choral Festival and the National Chamber Choir of Ireland with funds made available by An Comhairle Ealaoin (The Arts Council).