2 mins
Tales of old
Irish folklore comes to life in a new quartet
ALL FOR ONE: On 15 October, musicians at the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík performed a special concert on 23 instruments made by Hans Jóhannsson. The performance marked the climax of ‘Echoes of the Ages’, a two-week festival dedicated to the Icelandic luthier’s life and works. The festival, thought to be the first ever dedicated to a living violin maker, also included an exhibition, talks and demonstrations of Jóhannsson’s instruments. Photo: Hans Jóhannsson
COMPOSER Ailbhe McDonagh
WORK The Lore Quartet
ARTIST Ficino Quartet
DATE 6 December 2023
PLACE St John’s Theatre and Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland bitly.ws/Ybny
Ailbhe McDonagh
The Ficino Quartet’s other members
MCDONAGH PHOTO MARSHALL LIGHT STUDIO
We’ve all heard of leprechauns, but what of the rest of Ireland’s folklore? ‘There’s such a rich tapestry of different stories that people may not have heard before,’ says composer Ailbhe McDonagh. ‘The folklore in Irish history is so important. We grow up listening to these stories.’
The composer has been commissioned to write a string quartet for one of Ireland’s National String Quartet Foundation national tours. She will also be playing in the Ficino Quartet as the cellist.
The three-movement string quartet is based on different elements from Irish folklore. The first is the ‘Dolmen’: a large stone structure from the ancient past that signifies a burial site.
‘They’re incredibly striking. They’re seen as a portal between the living and the dead, with all the mysticism that happens in between. So the first movement is very expansive, has open harmonies and 5ths, and melodic writing,’ says McDonagh.
The majority of the second movement, ‘Fairies’, is written using natural harmonics. ‘It gives a fascinating sonority – kind of ethereal sounding. And there’s interplay between dancing motifs, as if the fairies are mischievous.’ Finally, the last movement, ‘Púca’, is based on a shapeshifter ghost of the same name. ‘As a child, people used to talk about it in the shape of a horse, in far-out places at the edges of the country,’ she says. ‘The movement therefore has motifs that sound like a horse galloping both far away and close to you.’
While the movements are distinct in style, ideas such as open harmonies and rhythmic elements return. And about whether the work is inspired by Irish traditional music, McDonagh says, ‘It’s primarily a classical quartet, but you can hear tonalities from traditional music because it’s part of my history – it always comes out somehow.’