w17641
| Title | Brightness of the Upper Cheek, A : Miniature Opera |
| Contributors |
Derek Ball (composer) Derek Ball (author) |
| Composition date | 2006 |
| Duration (mins) | 37 |
| Category | opera theatre |
| Instrumentation | T B / 2+12+12+12+1 4000 Tp Hp Str |
| Commissioned by | |
| Key signature | |
| First line | |
| First performed | |
| Notes | A Miniature Opera with traditional Irish songs .. |
| Programme Note | This is a drama about the recording session in 1958 that produced side 1 (Ceolta Éireann - amhráin) of an early Gael-Linn recording devoted to Irish music. It was the first 331/3 rpm vinyl LP the company made. The session took place in the early hours of the morning in order to avoid traffic noise, the studio being near Dublin city centre. The leading Irish singer Tomás Ó Súilleabháin was accompanied on the piano by Irish Renaissance man and musicological activist Seán Ó Riada. There are 8 songs on the LP, every one a gem! In this music-theatre piece each of the same 8 songs is set in a new arrangement embedded within the drama, implanted in a matrix which consists of the imagined conversation between these two extraordinary men. They were enthusiasts in the process of reviving Irish culture, the language as well as the music. Having enjoyed the honour of conversations with Tomás Ó Súilleabháin, I know that the reality was not quite so poetical or mystical as represented here, but I've allowed myself that licence in the interests of trying to say something about the character and times of these two key figures of recent cultural history. |
This work is associated with the following collection items:
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