Onwards and upwards towards the great Terry Riley, often credited with kick-starting the minimalist movement with his hugely influential ‘In C’, a movement that was to prove one of the most significant in modern composition. Par of the upcoming Crash Ensemble programme will see the group perform a piece, ‘Loops for Ancient Giant Nude Hairy Warriors Racing Down the Slopes of Battle’, which Riley wrote specifically for them.

“Basically, the Louth Contemporary Music Society, and especially their very enterprising chairman, Eamonn Quinn invited Terry Riley to Drogheda for a festival devoted to his music,” says Dennehy, explaining how both parties first met. “They asked Crash to be involved and we were delighted. Terry Riley is one of my heroes, and it was even a nicer surprise when he became obviously interested in writing a piece especially for the group.”

The burgeoning minimalist movement of the mid-60s was often linked with the visual arts, with both forms drawing on similar fundamental features. It comes as little surprise to learnt that the visual aspect is quite prevalent in much of what the Ensemble do, whether that element be provided by video artists, choreographers or multi-media works – naturally, the compositional process differ in terms of conceptual thinking when contextualizing a piece for theatre/dance as opposed to writing and performing a piece with no prior frame of reference.

 “Personally I am influenced by a lot of visual art, especially since the 1960s by artists such as Eva Hesse, Bridget Riley and Sigmar Polke.  There is a difference in conceptualising a piece of course if it is destined for a theatrical context. It often involves a degree of collaboration too, which is generally an exciting and productive situation.”

Equally, technology plays a key part in the creation of Crash Ensemble’s art, both in terms of the music itself as well as the visual performance. Their willingness to embrace modern technology sets them further apart from their contemporaries here in Ireland. “Crash Ensemble’s instrumentation crosses traditional divides in its embrace of both the acoustic and electro-acoustic.

 I think we have a very healthy and creative attitude to the use of technology in both composition and performance. I often use some algorithmic techniques too in my composition, and use the computer to analyse sounds and source material so as to yield interesting points of departure for my compositional journeys.

So what next for the Crash Ensemble? Aside from the new Sean Nós settings, there’s the Irish premiere of a Dennehy piano piece performed by Lisa Moore of New York’s famed Bang on A Can collective, new works by Gerald Barry and Julie Feeney as well as performances by Andrew Zolinsky and the Dublin Guitar Quartet along with 30 other pieces of music, all as part of Crash Ensemble’s 10th Anniversary celebrations.

With the influential Dennehy at the helm and a growing number of admirers both here and overseas  falling under Crash Ensemble’s spell, their future looks bright. Here’s to another 10 years. They play the Aula Max, UCC on Thursday, November 22.

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