On the second day of the New Music Dublin Festival, an iconic and not so new contemporary figure graced the stage of the National Concert Hall. Sir Harrison Birtwistle, 80 years young, was on hand to witness a wonderful performance of his Earth Dances from 1985/1986.
The NMD folder proclaimed that the festival was “back” and under new artistic directorship. Immediately, one wondered, where had it recently been? A swift investigation learned that “Living Music” was a festival in the Irish capital for many years, commencing with a phoned-in attendance by Luciano Berio just a few months prior to his death in 2003. Numerous, successful editions further and a roller coaster of funding expenditures and cuts, “living” has been replaced by “new”. This year features Sir Harrison, “Harry” to his intimates, along with conductor Nicholas Cleobury, who led the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra in a clean and convincing performance of Earth Dances. This Friday matinée concert again confronted us with the contradiction between the adjective in the festival’s name and the date of the opus presented - new? 1986?
The concert itself was preceded by a charming tête á tête en plein publique between maestro Cleobury and Sir Harrison, a dialogue in which the composer himself stressed the relationship between music and time: “Time changes music in the sense of how I remember it… I hear wounds that you do not; some wounds are gone and others have come up… If I did it again, I could write a better one, but you just have to get on to the next thing.”