Mise Éire by Seán Ó Riada

lld

Recorded in 1959 and conducted by the composer himself, the music on this disc was written as the accompaniment to a film documentary of the events that led up to, constituted and followed on from the 1916 Easter Rising. This score and recording have, even more so than the film, attained a certain iconic status, compounded by the relative scarcity of other genuinely Irish forays into the realms of classical composition. Being an Irish made film scored by an Irish composer, it comes as no surprise that the perspective from which this work is produced is sympathetic to the cause of those it is documenting, sympathies that neither the film nor the soundtrack are afraid to show off.

The album begins with a scene setting overture-like depiction of Ireland rising from the raging ocean in which the central motif of the work, a melody based on a traditional tune, emerges to rousing triumphalism. This first piece captures all of the figurative immortallity and mystical beauty Ireland has come to embody in the minds of much of the world and in the hearts of those who fought and died during the period being portrayed. As this intial setting ebbs away the tranquil lull it leaves behind is suddenly interrupted by a series of brief, shrill passages, which in turn are overcome by the first of many reemergances of the central Mise Éire theme. Each reprise of this theme serves as a reminder of the romanticism and heroism of the cause that was being fought. After a while, the music eventually reaches a crushingly sorrowful climax as the defeat of the Rising is realized and the dust begins to settle on the wasted battlefields, only to rise once again joyously to the sound of the Mise Éire theme as Ireland awakes revitalised in the aftermath of the martial sacrifice.

The original role of this work as a soundtrack to a film made up of many, often brief, pieces of archive footage accounts for the prefunctory nature of a great many of these tracks. The restrictions of soundtrack form can also be seen preventing the integration of the various movements into a larger whole in the way traditionally occurs in classical music. This is not to say the work is incoherent at the meta level, but that the wider structural tale plays out not so much in the development of continuous motivic forms, but via the broken interplay between longer suite-like explorations, depicting specific events and shorter pieces that essentially function as narrative motion. This requires of the listener therefore a different set of expectations from those of more ordinary clasical forms, which many appraching this may be accustomed to and expecting.

One gets the impression that this could've made one hell of a symphony had it been reduced to a few key motivic ideas and allowed to integrate differently. Despite the seeming handicap of its fragmentary nature, it is carried off remarkably by Ó Riada who creates a unique and enganging experience. the sheer power of sentiment in melodic statement and overwhelming sense of reverential pride carry this work off and make it more than worthwhile of the status it has found.


review from the Irish Nihlism Society's website.

Sandwich

Are you advertising?

nlgbbbblth

I've owned the album for years - knew this already.

tSubh Dearg

Yes, he was advertising. He's now banned.