Classical Review: Composing the Island at the National Concert Hall, Dublin

3/5

Composing the Island, a survey of the last hundred years of classical music in Ireland over three weeks of events opened at the National Concert Hall with a programme of orchestral works titled Irish Rhapsodies.

The RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Kenneth Montgomery gave a good account of works inspired by Irish landscapes written within a decade of the formation of the state in 1922. Perhaps not unjustly neglected masterpieces, but the programme made for an interesting and enjoyable evening of music that most likely would continue to gather dust on library shelves without the impetus of such a project.