Sir, - It is wonderful that the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland played a special arrangement of Bill Whelan's Riverdance in Hong Kong, as Simon Taylor informs us (letters, August 27th). First we had Riverdance, the Eurovision slot, we've since had Riverdance, the Show, we've had Riverdance, the Video, and now wait a minute . . . what did they call it? . . . Riverdance the Symphony, I suppose.
This really is a remarkable piece. To paragraph Stravinsky on its many guises, I admire the economy, and look forward to the day when it can organise tax returns (Riverdance, the F. 12), and regulate urban renewal (Riverdance the Left Bank). I could add that it might even be able to organise pulling pints in inner city churches (in its form as Riverdance, the Temple Bar), extend closing time (Riverdance The Ultimate Bar), contribute to times of economic crisis (Riverdance, the Floating Punt) while gardeners troubled by drought may also soon be able to avail of it (Riverdance, the Home Irrigation System). Indeed the latter, if further expanded with the addition of the odd secco indication here and there, might have applications in Third World agrarian economies troubled by drought (Riverdance at Oasis).
This is no laughing matter. It is patronising of Simon Taylor to write that those of us who do complain of an absence of contemporary Irish music "misunderstand the nature of this particular event". Speaking for myself I understand only too well the nature of this type of event, and I don't wholeheartedly approve, although that will be no news to anybody, least of all to Simon Taylor.
For Simon Taylor, then, to try and fob us off with irrelevant details of a Riverdance performance (a piece which hardly needs farther performances) and with platitudes about the excellent and laudable (but, in the current discussion, totally irrelevant) Marco Polo Irish Composer CD Series is ridiculous. One can only suspect here that he is trying to impress Naxos.
And if Simon Taylor thinks the Naxos/Marco Polo connection is relevant, then perhaps he could tell us why they didn't take proper advantage of the opportunity afforded them and use the programmes and performances in Hong Kong to push the Irish Composer CD series by playing some of the music featured on them (a lot of which is extremely attractive) and have the CDs available to the Hong Kong audience in the foyer at the interval and after the concert, generating income and interest, and giving some living composers much needed revenue in royalties.
Let's not obfuscate the issue. What is at issue here is not the degree to which Naxos/Marco Polo in its philanthropic generosity supports living composers by releasing CDs of their music. What is at issue here is the programming of repertoire for orchestral tours, and the question as to whether those who programme the repertoire for important international tours by Irish orchestras are going to allow the choice of repertoire to be dictated in the future entirely, on the one hand, by outside interests and on the other hand, by the commercial success of the music.
Will the next tour see things improve? I'm beginning to get very depressed, thinking about it. I had thought things would be better with the release of Riverdance the Programming Orchestral Music System (PROMS for short), but it turns out that they're already using that and it hasn't made any difference. - Yours, etc.,
Cill Maodhog,
Nas na Ri,
Co Chill Dara.