The Owl – A Setting of Matthew Sweeney’s Poem by Iain Ballamy

About this event

ECM Recording Artist and Saxophonist Iain Ballamy first met the late Matthew Sweeney in the late-1990s when they bonded over music, poetry and wine after appearing on Jazz with Julian Joseph. Now Iain will celebrate the poet who passed away in August 2018 with a special concert at Triskel Arts Centre, Cork. He has composed a setting of the poem ‘The Owl’ by Matthew and this work will be performed as a world premiere on Saturday 23 April at 8pm as part of this year’s Cork World Book Fest. It is a personal tribute by the composer to Matthew who was a leading poet of his generation.

Iain said, “Matthew Sweeney sent this striking poem to me in November 2017. I promised him that whatever was to come, I would make a setting for ‘The Owl’ and would not rest until that had happened. With kind support from Tony Sheehan, Mary Noonan, Cork World Book Fest and the Arts Council of Ireland, this promise has now been fulfilled.

“It wasn’t long after I started work on the setting that I realised this was not going to be an easy thing to do. How to make music that would not get in the way of or distract from the words as they were read? In choosing the musicians, I knew Matthew loved Huw Warren and Matthew Sharp as we worked together before. But I felt the poem also needed percussion and dynamic range to punctuate the space and add an extra dimension. After some weeks I realised the answer was staring me in the face all along in the form of Roy Dodds, a highly perceptive and empathetic musician who I had worked with many years ago. Roy was the missing link and I am delighted to be working with him again.

“The music opens with a prelude; the main theme and motif, representing the owl with his silent message, are introduced. The convoluted and encrypted motif in the melody signifies the Owl’s presence throughout the piece. The setting follows the twelve verses of The Owl each with their own musical title derived from the poem. There are moments of texture and lightness as well as darkness and periods of calm. Some of the piece is precisely scored; other parts are punctuated with space for improvisation and atmospheric tension. ‘Unmoved’ (part 11) differs in that it is written entirely as a graphic score, enabling the musicians to personally interpret and express the anger and frustration at that point in the poem entirely from their perspective.

The closing ‘air’ is called ‘Donegal Son’. It is in the age-old style of an Irish folk song and is a personal and heartfelt musical eulogy to Matthew. My tribute to a much missed and dearly loved friend.” 

This concert is co-commissioned by Triskel Arts Centre and Cork World Book Fest, and supported by The Arts Council Commissioning Award for Music. The poem will be recited on the night by renowned actor Denis Conway.