4 Irish ladies composers give voice to ladies of the Magdalene Laundries in outstanding performances from Lotte Betts-Dean & Deirdre Brenner in Oxford

We started with premieres of three songs by Elaine Agnew who studied composition at Queen’s College Belfast with Kevin Volans and on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with James MacMillan. Philomena complemented Lotte Betts-Dean’s lyrical, movingly direct efficiency with an atmospheric piano, the consequence virtually a slice of life introduced straight to us. Frances Walsh had a gentle ahead beat within the piano underpinning the slightly conversational line which Betts-Dean gave with outstanding immediacy and directness. Mary Creighton moved between vivid and edgy drama and extra conversational components with moments of actual anger. Agnew’s piano writing right here gave loads of area for the voice.

Subsequent got here two songs by Elaine Brennan who studied at Trinity Faculty Dublin and the Guildhall College of Music and Drama London, and who performs extensively as accompanist and improviser with movie. Pippa Flanagan was bleak and direct utilizing the language of laid-back blues to specific the extreme that means. Mary Currington had robust, gradual piano chords making a threatening begin with fractured vocal contributions, robust but disconnected strains, resulting in a strong climax. At one level the voice refers to a bit of music reminder her of her previous and on the finish Brennan introduces a sentimental hymn tune as counterpoint.

Dublin-born Rhona Clarke studied at College Faculty Dublin and Queen’s College Belfast, and he or she was influenced early on by Luciano Berio and Witold Lutoslawski. Her three songs had been all premiered on the Boyne Music Competition in 2022. Evelyn had a spiky motor rhythm within the piano driving issues ahead with highly effective melismatic blues-inspired vocal strains. Martina Keogh started with a devastating chord adopted by Betts-Dean talking the phrases, then a lyrical vocal line appeared with a touch of gradual blues and a really feel of Bach within the piano accompaniment. In Nancy Shannon the piano was additionally ominous, however right here Brenner was utilizing her proper hand contained in the piano. The sense of menace underpinned Betts-Dean’s passionate arioso, resulting in one thing vividly pressing.

Deirdre McKay’s work represented Eire on the 2023 Worldwide Society for Up to date Music World New Music Days, and he or she obtained a Paul Hamlyn Composer Award, London, in 2018. The textual content for Nora Lynch was tiny, only one line but it was haunting, the voice shifting between gradual blues and folk-like keening over held piano notes. Easy, however devastatingly efficient. The ultimate work within the programme was McKay’s Litany to the Magdalene Lifeless which was initially impressed by McKay seeing a picture of a headstone carrying the names of 72 ladies who died within the Peacock Lane Magdalene Laundry in County Cork. For the textual content, Betts-Dean intoned the names, 12 months and placement of 72 ladies, on a monotone supported by a easy piano half that developed in complexity as the 2 performers introduced a way of gradual construct. Twice, Betts-Dean interrupted her monotone to chant ‘Requiescat in tempo’ the second time forming a climax, from which voice and piano steadily died till Betts-Dean merged into silence. As with a lot else within the programme, the restraint and ease of this piece spoke volumes, although it’s not a type of works that transcends its origins.

The Magdalene Songs – Lotte Betts-Dean – Oxford Worldwide Track Competition (Picture: TallWall Media)

These songs had been very a lot in regards to the phrases. Typically brief, however nonetheless devastating expressing as a lot by what was left unsaid. All 4 composers managed the balancing act between discreetly sitting within the background and bringing a way of musical character to the songs. There was typically a way {that a} track didn’t finish, it simply stopped. There was no closure right here, and a number of the songs talked in regards to the impossibility of this. There was passionate identification from Lotte Betts-Dean, the sense that in every track she was channelling that particular person.

As an occasion, this was a outstanding and highly effective programme that actually stayed within the thoughts due to robust performances. However this near the topic and the music, I used to be unclear whether or not these items will transcend their origins, solely time and additional performances will inform.