Gráinne Mulvey
About the composer
Gráinne Mulvey was born in 1966 in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland. She studied under Eric Sweeney at Waterford Regional Technical College, Hormoz Farhat at Trinity College Dublin, and Agustín Fernández at Queen’s University, Belfast.
In 1994, she achieved recognition by winning the Composers’ Class of the RTÉ Musician of the Future competition, followed by the Macaulay Fellowship awarded by the Arts Council in 1998. Her music has been performed and broadcast internationally. In 1999, she earned a DPhil in Composition at the University of York under the guidance of Nicola LeFanu. Presently, she holds the position of Head of Composition at the Dublin Institute of Technology Conservatory of Music and Drama.
Her compositions have been performed by international ensembles, including the Orchestre National De Lorraine in France, The Hradrec Králové Orchestra in Prague, and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra.
Her music is distinguished by its intricate timbral and rhythmic complexity, influenced by her work in the electroacoustic field. Some notable works include the Trombone Concerto (2000), Swirling Sea and Frightened Fish (2003) for flute and tape, Scorched Earth (2004), and Akanos for Orchestra (2014).
About the Stabat Mater
| Date: | 2002 |
| Performers: | 17 voices a capella |
| Length: | 5.00 minutes |
| Particulars: | In a programme note, March 2009 Mulvey explains: I felt that the Latin text of the Stabat Mater was so familiar that a straight “liturgical” setting was unnecessary. Instead, I chose to treat the text as a phonetic resource, allowing the exploration of a continuum from comprehensible words to individual phonemes. Similarly, the musical material ranges from dense, microtonally-inflected clusters to a form of pan-diatonic modality. |
| Textual variations: | The Latin text has not been used. Only small quotes like 'Stabat Mater' for example. |
| Colour bar: |
No colourbar as the Latin text has not been used. |
Information about the recording
| CD: | 49th Cork International Choral Festival (Cork Music Archive) |
| More info: | Mulvey’s Stabat Mater (the premiere) has been published in 2003 on a double CD, a limited production by the Cork International Choral Festival. Thanks to Michaele del Tin for his information and reference to the archive of the Cork City Library! |
| Choir: | National Chamber Choir |
| Conductor: | Celso Antunes |
| Other works: | For the long list of the other works on the Double CD (of many composers, sung by various choirs) look at: https://corkcity.spydus.ie/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/BIBENQ/209658857/4645387,1 |
| Code: | MULV - 01 |
