Jane O’Leary [b.1946]
Strings in the Air, Songs in the Stones [2021]
Dedicated to Eamonn O’Donoghue, Claregalway Castle & ConTempo Quartet

Performed by the ConTempo Quartet
National Concert Hall, 11th September 2022

Written for a premiere in November 2021 at Claregalway Castle, a 15th century Anglo-Norman tower house on the outskirts of Galway and originally a stronghold of the Clanricarde Burkes.  It was the scene of battles over the centuries and was captured by Oliver Cromwell in 1651, falling into disrepair after that.  At one time the home of the Brian Boru harp, symbol of Ireland, the Castle has now been lovingly restored and is open to the public.

The music calls forth fragments of melodies, whispering voices, mystery and memory as we imagine the ghosts of the past. The title refers not only to the idea of songs being carried through history by the stones of the castle, but also Joyce’s well known words from ‘Chamber Music’:

strings in the earth and air
Make music sweet…

All softly playing,
With head to the music bent,
And fingers straying
Upon an instrument.