Diatribe Records are set to release An Cúigiú Cúige, the début album from award-winning composer Ann Cleare, and the final chapter in the critically-acclaimed Landscape Series.
An Cúigiú Cúige invokes the idea of centre, drawing on the Midlands of Ireland and the now disappeared ancient province of Midhe. The island of Ireland is today divided into four provinces known in the Irish language as ‘Na Ceithre Cúige’ (the four fifths). Through the synthesis of Old Irish, new poetry from Annemarie Ní Churreáin, field recordings and symbolic mappings of Croghan Hill, Loughcrew Cairns, and Uisneach – the three sacred hills at the heart of Ireland’s now-disappeared fifth province – An Cúigiú Cúige (the fifth fifth), seeks to recover, reclaim, and reanimate a lost centre, offering new perspectives on what centredness, power, and collectivity might mean to our contemporary lives.
An Cúigiú Cúige is the recorded version of Midhe (2022), a large-scale work for symphonic orchestra, philharmonic choir, four soloists and choreographer, which was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, RTÉ, and New Music Dublin, and premiered on April 21st 2023 in the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The recording brings together the four soloists from the work – vocalists Frauke Aulbert, Michelle O’ Rourke, and Eoghan Desmond, and accordionist Dermot Dunne, with processed forms of the original field recordings from which the orchestral parts were transcribed, recorded by the composer at the Hill of Croghan and Boora Boglands in Co. Offaly. The combination of fixed media, literature, and musicianship on record is a breathtaking, transformative listen. The album is launched at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2023 on Sunday November19th as a limited-edition physical matchbox (representing the lighting of the fire at the hill of Uisneach for the summer feast of Bealtaine) and will be released globally on January 19th 2024 as a digital download and across all streaming platforms.
Ann Cleare is an Irish artist working in the areas of concert music, opera, extended sonic environments, and hybrid instrumental design. She was a 2019 Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize winner, and her work has been commissioned and presented by major broadcasters such as the BBC, NPR, ORF, RTÉ, SWR, WDR and for festivals such as Gaudeamus Week, The Wittenertage fur Neue Kammermusik, International Music Institute Darmstadt, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, IMATRONIC Festival of Electronic Music at ZKM, MATA Festival, Taschenopernfestival, Sound Reasons Festival in India, Shanghai New Music Week, Transit Belgium, GAIDA, Totally Huge New Music in Perth, Trattorie Parma, Rainy Days in Luxembourg, Ultraschall and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.
For more information visit: www.diatribe.ie
