Gerald Barry:
Gerald Barry was born in Clare Hill, Clarecastle, County Clare in 1952. As a small child he listened to his uncle, a well known concertina player, and unknowingly developed a love for music. One late summer day in his early adolescence he went for a walk in the village churchyard. He wandered into the choir gallery and saw a closed harmonium and knew instantly that his whole life was there in this object. He did not have the words to describe to his mother what he was going to be and he cried for a week until she believed him. After seeing Heifetz perform on TV he bullied his mother into buying a violin, which he later pawned. The family did not have a piano but he demanded piano lessons. He bought records which he could not play because he did not have a record player but he brought the records along to his piano teacher insisting that his teacher play them. At night he would work on manuscripts even though he did not fully understand the notation.
Barry later went on to study music in UCD and later in Germany under Mauricio Kagel and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He also studied organ with Piet Kee. His music would be noted for its emotional abandon and his markings in his scores indicate this e.g. sad, angry, furiously, frenetic etc. He composes much of his music in his house in Clare overlooking the Atlantic. Some of his pieces begin as Irish ballads, which then have notes inserted or subtracted from them until the source disappears. Having set off in a particular direction Barry grinds the material paying particular attention to catching a mood and holding it as long as possible, before abruptly changing course with a strongly contrasting tempo and texture. His rhythm is mostly thrusting and stomping, set off against haunting moments of sensuality. Barry also has a penchant for fortissimo and his music is non-developmental; there is no climax, no pivotal point, no resolution, no dialectic. Barry’s music is not for the faint-hearted. Listen to it as loud as you dare.
Of Queens’ Park is an ingenious work and I really like the scoring and the textures of the music. It was written in 1986 and was commissioned by the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The piece develops material from Barry’s opera “The Intelligence Park”.
Chevaux-de-frise were barriers of metal spikes put up as a defense against cavalry charges in the seventeenth century. This piece, written in 1988 to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the Armada, is more aggressive than defensive. It is like a fearsome war machine with a menacing air that pervades the whole work. It contains strident and dissonant harmonies. The piece was commissioned by the BBC for the Ulster Orchestra to play at the 1988 Proms, where it was greeted by some with cries of “Rubbish!” [Personally I do not agree with that reaction; I think that this is a powerful piece and it puts me in mind of the music of Carl Nielsen.]
Flamboys marks the four-hundredth anniversary of Trinity College, Dublin. The name is that of a flaming torch, but also refers to those who ran ahead of processions with torches. It is a brilliant overture, based on a collection of waltzes, hymns and hornpipes [which are given the typical Barry treatment and worked beyond recognition].
Sur les Points is derived from material written in 1980 for the Bremen City Ballet for Reinhild Hoffman’s ballet Unkrautgarten. Sur les Points (On Points) exists in several versions, and is best known in its incarnation as a large virtuoso piano piece. This short transcription for wind band has a mysterious expectant quality.
Hard D was commissioned in 1992. The D of the title refers to the lowest note on the Uilean pipes, known as hard D because of its open, abrasive sound. The piece is in fifteen sections, each of which (with few exceptions) is based on a different Irish ballad. Barry set out to write one section a day and the piece has an immediacy born of rapid gestation.
Diner is also derived from material commissioned in 1980 for the Bremen City Ballet for Reinhild Hoffman’s ballet Unkrautgarten. It is based on two dances from the ballet, one a can-can the other a waltz. The cannibalise a melody from “___”, a 1979 ensemble piece speeded up out of all recognition, and harmonies from “Sur les Points”.
[As has been mentioned above Barry’s music is not for the faint-hearted. It is challenging but is rewarded by repeated listening and attempts at understanding. Thus I have included Kevin Volans’ notes to help guide those who may find some of this music on YouTube.]
