Frank Corcoran

Irish Composer

ADD A QUICK THOUGHT HERE

Be grateful for small mercies.

Compose the island, such as it is ….

Who selected what ?

I am myself an island; I dwell here; going down into my composer’s catacombs , now I pull the entrance lid closed.

HOW EVER COMPOSE AN ISLAND ? I AM ONE…..

Sat 17 Sep 2016 – 19:30
Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall

Concorde.

Programme:

Gerard Victory: Runic Variations

Philip Martin: Garments of the Night

James Wilson: Three Play Things

Deirdre McKay: through still pollen

Eric Sweeney: Strings in the Earth and Air

Jane O’Leary: Poem from a Three Year Old

Rhona Clarke: Purple Dust

Frank Corcoran: The Quare Hawk

COMPOSING WHICH ISLAND ?

Composing the Island:
Five Decades of Music for Guitar
An overview of music for the classical guitar since 1969
Saturday 24th September, 7.30pm
John Feeley
Composing the Island: Five Decades of Music for Guitar
Start Date24-09-2016 19:30

Room: Kevin Barry Recital Room
Prices: €10 (Concessions: €5)

John Feeley, guitar

Andrew Shiels The Voyage of Maeldún: The Island of the Black Mourners – The Island of the Little Cat
Mary Kelly Adagio – Moderato from Shard (1982 rev. 1988)
Frank Corcoran Prologo from Three Pieces (1990)

ARENA INTERVIEW GOOD INTERVIEW

Subject: Arena playback

Don Francisco,
In case you didn’t know you can listen back to your interview, or send on the link to whoever you wish,
here

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/arena/programmes/2015/1207/751906-arena-monday-7-december-2015/

NUA NEW NOVA NEU

Cross Currents Radio Series on RTÉ lyric fm
Fri 2 Sep 2016

Cross Currents is a landmark music documentary series, narrated by award-winning actor Barry McGovern, exploring contemporary Irish composers and their work. The series begins on RTÉ lyric fm on 9 September at 7:00pm and continues at the same time on 16 and 23 September.

The last 50 years have seen Irish composition flourish as young Irish composers look to Europe and beyond to re-imagine an Irish identity in music, paralleling many of the societal and economic shifts in post-de Valera Ireland. The series is a blend of substantive interviews with the music and musical influences of the composers involved and draws on archives, illustrative soundscapes and a rich mix of music reflecting the full canon of composition in Ireland over the past 40 years.
Actor Barry McGovern narrates the series which is an Athena Media production for RTE Lyric fm made with the funding support of the BAI and the TV licence fee in partnership with the Contemporary Music Centre. Series Producer, Helen Shaw. Producer and Recordist, Jonathan Grimes.

The series consists of three episodes and features interviews with composers Gerald Barry, Seóirse Bodley, John Buckley, Linda Buckley, Frank Corcoran, Raymond Deane, Donnacha Dennehy, Roger Doyle, Dave Flynn, Amanda Feery, Michael Gallon, John Kinsella, Garrett Sholdice, and Jennifer Walshe.

Listen to a promotional trailer on the series:

A number of audio shorts produced as podcasts for the series are also available to listen to here.

For more on the series, visit crosscurrents.ie
Cross Currents Radio Series: Audio Shorts

HERE IS A HOT TITLE NOW

Playing around with my firewall is all very well.
Yet, how avoid triviality ? Quadriviality ? Early banality and the noble art of self-imitation?
Why ironic or muted trumpets to announce a noble message ? Or are such categories banned for the future ? For whose future ? Is there a “second”theme ? Original, whew ? Under this hot, whistling hot sun ?
Too hot to playact , to typeset.

AUTUMN HOT, SO HOT NOW

Yes, go back over diary entries this time last 2015 or 2014. Were those Keatsian days so roasting ?
Perhaps yes, I do be disremembering.
Now it’s reach and overreach the Heaney Number , health being splendid, the PIANO TRIO
NR. 2 ( with Viola ) and all the hay harvested.
Yes, I survived blistering heat , the temptation to let all go, to destroy finely wrought work, to cry : ” What’s the point?”
Soon we’ll have all the cello works in the composer’s bag , recorded for the new CD.
What’s new in the offing ? Strings or wind ? How fish for a performance , a recognition or a smile ?
Winter will come and the Fight for the Musical Faith, the composer’s indomitable will to plough icy fields. Be
prepared for all faint new autumnal stirrings , small or big. Be aware. Beware!

END OF AUTUMN TEMPERATURES ROAR…. YET IT IS AUTUMN

HORACE ODE 1. 13

I greatly admire great Horace – so thus I translate his great Ode :

Ciao, Leucone ! Hey, it’s forbidden ! Just stop asking what kind of a death the gods might have in store for you- or , indeed, for me ; and would you please stop fiddling around with those Babylonian numbers !
Whatever happens, just put up with it .
Whether there’ll be more winters, or mebbe Juppiter has sent us this as the last, with those Tuscan waves walloping the bloody bejaysus outta the opposing rocks !
Get wise !
Strain your wines and in this short period just give up on long hope.
Time, that bastard, is flying as we speak.
Grab today ; just give minimal credence to what’s coming after this.

FRANK CORCORAN Translation 2016