It has taken the National Concert Hall an astonishing 19 years to wake up to the presence of Irish composers as a group worth paying attention to. Now, seven have been invited to create a programme of their own work in the context of music which has influenced them.
The Composers' Choice concerts from tomorrow to Wednesday will feature just one work by Bach, two by Mozart, and a single piece to represent the whole of the 19th century, Clara Schumann's Piano Trio. Most remarkably of all, only James Wilson has included a work by an Irish colleague, Brian Boydell.
For my money, though, it's Raymond Deane's choice of Ravel, Xenakis, Bartok and Berg which looks the most immediately appealing. The other featured composers are John Buckley, Jane O'Leary, Donnacha Dennehy, Benjamin Dwyer, and Deirdre Gribbin.
