Rory Gallagher inspires piece in Cork Choral Festival: 'His ideas are so iconic'
Anselm McDonnell took inspiration from Rory Gallagher for his piece at Cork International Choral Festival. Picture: LS Crashworks Portraits
Rory Gallagher is one of Cork’s great musical icons – but his legend also burns brightly in Belfast, where he played some of his most legendary shows in the 1970s. Among those rocking out to the great bluesman was the father of composer Anselm McDonnell – a passion he passed on to his son.
“My dad was very into Rory Gallagher, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd – all this kind of stuff. It was music I grew up listening to. It’s always been in the background of my musical conscience. Now it’s come to the fore. It’s been great to reference some of those influences from my very early years.”
McDonnell has written over 90 pieces for orchestra, chamber groups, choirs, and soloists. His work has been performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the BBC Singers chamber choir. This month, he brings together the very different worlds of chamber music and rock ’n roll with the world premiere of a new piece, Gallagher, at St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral for Cork International Choral Festival.
Gallagher began as a meeting of minds between McDonnell and Kilkenny novelist Tim MacGabhann, author of a poetry book called Rory Gallagher – Live! – from the Hotel of The Dead.
Described by publisher Rough Trade Books as “a poetic, psychedelic bar-crawl of the soul”, it imagines Gallagher playing a gig in the afterlife. McDonnell and MacGabhann met in Paris on artistic residences and bonded over their love of Gallagher. Out of that connection has come the Gallagher composition – a crossing of the musical streams for which McDonnell has won the choral festival’s prestigious Seán Ó Riada Competition.
“Tim has a poetry book about Rory — he’s a big fan, too. It’s an imaginary thing of Rory beyond the grave performing in this hotel for the dead. It’s a slightly psychedelic imagining of this concert. We were both in Paris. We were exchanging music we liked and found important. He mentioned Rory. I was like, ‘Oh — I love Rory’s music.’”
He continues the story with relish: “The next thing, he pulled out this book: ‘oh, I have a whole poetry book about him. You should have a read of it’. I did and I went back and said, ‘I love this – would you be open to me setting some of it to music’? Because we’ve bonded over that shared love for Rory’s music, he was open to it. There’s such rich imagery in Tim’s poem. A lot of the time he’s trying to use down-to-earth language and that immediacy that Rory’s music had. In a lot of Tim’s poetry you get that sense of what Rory was trying to convey.”
Gallagher is a choral work: McDonnell hasn’t attempted to “translate” the musician’s ferocious blues style directly into the classical genre. Still, fans who pay attention will detect references to Gallagher’s blistering repertoire.
“It’s a choir piece for four-part chamber choir. The piece is an original piece of music but there are threaded into it some of Rory’s iconic work. For example, the guitar solo from 'Philb'y [from 1979’s Top Priority album] or one of the riffs from 'Brute Force and Ignorance' [a fan favourite from 1978].
"What I’ve done is use those within the choir. If you’re listening you’ll maybe be able to hear some of that line in the bass part, for example. Just little snippets – it gives it that general 'world' of Rory’s music. There’s little things for people to pick up on if they notice. Or they can can sit back and enjoy the whole thing.”
He feels Gallagher’s music was so deft and sophisticated that it lends itself to translation to different musical media. “His ideas are so iconic. They are so intricate and nuanced – it is possible to translate them into contexts that aren’t blues, and they still hold a lot of their authenticity and are still ‘his’. You can put it in a context that isn’t blues, and it still works.”
He was delighted to receive the blessing of the Gallagher family. “I got an email from his brother Dónal [Rory’s former tour manager and custodian of the Gallagher estate], who said it was wonderful to see Rory’s legacy inspiring music. He also mentioned that Rory had met Seán Ó Riada – the competition is named after him. So Rory had connections to one of Ireland’s most famous classical composers. Yes, he was working in the blues tradition – but he has had an enormous influence across the whole musical world.”
He’s looking forward to hearing the piece performed in Cork at its world premiere. He comes back around to his huge personal attachment to Gallagher and recalls the stories his father would tell of how the musician remained loyal to his Belfast fans at the height of the Troubles.
“Rory was so supportive of music in Belfast at a time when many other musicians wouldn’t play there. The young people in Belfast still needed music. There are great stories of paramilitary organisations saying, ‘right no one is to [disrupt] the Rory Gallagher concert’. Because there was such wide respect for him.”
- Gallagher will have its world premiere at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, Friday, May 3, 7.30pm. See www.corkchoral.ie
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