PATRICK CASSIDY- INTERVIEW- 2023/ PATRICK CASSIDY- ENTREVISTA- 2023

Patrick Cassidy, known to everyone, the Irish genius, has once again given an exclusive interview to END TITLES.

Patrick Cassidy, conocido por todos, el genio irlandés, ha vuelto a conceder una entrevista en exclusiva para END TITLES.

ENGLISH INTERVIEW

 INTERVIEW IN SPANISH BELOW (entrevista en español más abajo)

END TITLES (ET)- How was the Covid-19 era for you as a musician? 

PATRICK CASSIDY (PC)- Composers tend to live like hermits even at the best of times. But I found the Covid isolation very difficult. I could not see my friends and could not travel home to Ireland to see my family.But I managed to do a lot of composing. Also, during the pandemic my composition ‘The Mass’ was performed online at First Congregational church Los Angeles. We broadcast one movement each week for sixteen weeks at which time we also released an album of this performance. 

ET- Is your musical style a melodic minimalism? How would you define it? 

PC- Well I try not to be minimalistic in my compositions. But every piece tends to be different depending on what I am trying to communicate. My newest composition is an opera titled ‘Dante’ which will be premiered at Theater Hof in Bavaria on 15 June 2024. It is quite different to ‘The Mass’. It is difficult for me to describe my musical style but I feel it is in some way neoclassical. I am particularly inspired by the Baroque composers. 

ET- In the same way that I paint inspired by "The Mass", where do you find the inspiration to carry out your musical works? 

PC- A lot of my compositions are choral, so the inspiration very often comes from the text I am setting to music. It is difficult to say how I find inspiration but I do think, like you, that other forms of art can be inspiring - a painting, a work of literature. I also like to hike and being in nature can also be truly inspiring. 

ET- "The Mass" has a strong dual character: beauty and hardness, hope and death. Is that true? What could you tell us about this work? 

PC- ‘The Mass’ is dedicated to my late father. I endeavored to make it contemplative and peaceful. Also, I was inspired by the great tradition of Catholic Church music, which we now only very rarely hear during a liturgy. So the composition was very much a return to this tradition but also influenced by my own time and place. I agree there is a sense of contrast between the beauty and harshness of life and the hope of something that transcends our mortality. 

                                           

                                                                          THE MASS

ET- What is the most important thing in the development of your works?

PC- Musical theory or feeling? I mean at the time of creation and of course knowing that both are essential. Of course both are essential. Endeavour and time are also important. Composing music is hard, it does not come easy. It is important to become immersed in a work in an almost obsessive way and shut out the world. Good work takes a lot of time and there is never enough time. So when I am writing there is time for nothing else but the work. 

ET- Your compositions are evocative and philosophical. What kind of beliefs do you have? 

PC- Well I hope there is a God. I do believe but I also harbour doubts at certain times. I do think it is more important to be a good person than merely a religious person. Philosophically I am very attracted to Christianity. I find the ethics and the justice of these beliefs are comforting to me. 

ET- Would you dare to choose the two or three best films in history, three masterpieces of painting and three of music? 

PC- This is very difficult. My favourite things are continually changing so I am going to pick these choices from the top of head. Films: The Mission, The Last of The Mohicans, Badlands. Paintings: Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling, Caravaggio’s The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Music: Bach’s Wachett Auf, Ruft Uns Die Stimme, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem. 

Bach’s Wachett Auf, Ruft Uns Die Stimme

ET- And which of your own works are the ones you think they have the highest quality? 

PC- I feel my most recent works are my best. The opera ‘Dante’, which will premiere next year, and ‘The Mass’. I suppose this is typical to be excited about the most recent things we do. 

ET- Following our conversation about Art, in the previous interview in 2015 you told us about your preference for Bach, Handel and Mozart. Could you please name a composition that in particular admires from each of those composers? And thanks to your knowledge, what do you think is the most complex piece of music in history? 

PC- Haha! I have just picked a piece by each of these composers in Q.7. I do not think that complexity is important in itself. In the greatest compositions the complexity is hidden and disguised by the greatness of the overall architecture. I feel this is particularly true of Bach. In his great Cantata’s the beauty is so overwhelming that we become lost in the experience. In the experience we are unaware of the complexity that exists in the pagers of the score. 

ET- Currently and after your excellent career; What interests you the most? A great film project or a great classic piece? 

PC- Both interest me. But, of course, concert classical music is the greater experience and it offer more scope to the composer. In a film music is one of many elements in what is essentially a collaboration among artists. In recent times I have been concentrating more on concert works. I consider myself to be fortunate to have these opportunities. 

                                              

ET- I'm Spanish. Do you know about film music in Spain? Do you know about Alberto Iglesias? 

PC- In my opinion, he is the best Spanish film musician, a classical author like you, more influenced by chamber music for his compositions than the symphonic side that you usually apply. Alberto Iglesias is a great composer and very true to the culture of Spain. I have great regard for the history and culture of this great country. As a composer it is very important to have your own voice rather than being generic or overly influenced by contemporaries. Like Alberto Iglesias I have tried to find my own voice. I am steeped in the music and culture of Ireland and this allows me to be different and hopefully unique. 

ET- Your latest composition “The Mass”; Could you explain its related agenda to us? 

PC- The premiere date, its future… We had a performance last year in Los Angeles at First Congregation Church. There will be another performance at the same Church next year. I have been so consumed with my new opera that I have not paid enough attention to performance of ‘The Mass’. But the work is very personal and important to me. 

THE MASS

ET- What kind of projects do you have that can be announced in our website End Titles, both for cinema and for general music? 

PC- Well you have my opera ‘Dante’ which I have already mentioned. I believe I will be doing a movie in Italy early next year but I am not at liberty to let you know the title at this stage. Hopefully at some time in the future I will have an opportunity to work in Spain. I greatly appreciate your interest and thank you for the opportunity to reach your readers.

''THE MASS'': BUY TICKETS HERE

2015 interview

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ENTREVISTA EN ESPAÑOL

ET- ¿Cómo fue la era Covid-19 para ti como músico?

PC- Los compositores tienden a vivir como ermitaños incluso en los mejores tiempos. Pero encontré el aislamiento durante el Covid con dificultad. No pude ver a mis amigos y no pude viajar. Regresé a Irlanda para ver a mi familia, pero logré componer mucho. Además, durante la pandemia mi composición ‘The Mass’ se interpretó online en Primera Iglesia Congregacional de Los Ángeles. Transmitimos un movimiento cada semana. durante dieciséis semanas, momento en el que también lanzamos un álbum de esta actuación. 

ET- ¿Tu estilo musical es un minimalismo melódico? ¿Cómo lo definirías? 

PC- Bueno, trato de no ser minimalista en mis composiciones. Pero cada pieza tiende a ser diferente dependiendo de lo que estoy tratando de comunicar. Mi nueva composición es una ópera titulada 'Dante', que se estrenará en el Teatro Hof de Baviera el 15 Junio ​​de 2024. Es bastante diferente a 'La Misa'. Es difícil para mí describir mi estilo musical pero siento que de alguna manera es neoclásico. Me inspiran especialmente los compositores barrocos. 

Grave · Patrick Cassidy The Children of Lir

ET- De la misma manera que yo pinto mis obras escuchando e inspirado en "The Mass", ¿dónde encuentras la inspiración para realizar tus obras musicales? 

PC- Muchas de mis composiciones son corales, por lo que la inspiración muchas veces proviene del texto al que estoy poniendo música. Es difícil decir cómo encuentro la inspiración, pero creo que como usted, otras formas de arte pueden resultar inspiradoras: una pintura, una obra literaria. También me gusta hacer senderismo y estar en la naturaleza, también puede ser realmente inspirador. 

ET- "The Mass" tiene un fuerte carácter dual: belleza y dureza, esperanza y muerte. ¿Es eso cierto? ¿Qué podrías contarnos sobre este trabajo? 

PC- 'The Mass' está dedicada a mi difunto padre. Me esforcé en hacerlo contemplativa y pacífica. Además, me inspiré en la gran tradición de la música de la Iglesia Católica, que ahora rara vez escuchamos durante una liturgia. Así que la composición es un retorno a esta tradición, pero también influenciado por mi propio tiempo y lugar. Estoy de acuerdo en que existe una sensación de contraste entre la belleza y la dureza de la vida y la esperanza de algo que trascienda nuestra mortalidad.

ET- ¿Qué es lo más importante en el desarrollo de tus obras? ¿Teoría musical o sentimiento? Me refiero al momento de la creación y por supuesto. sabiendo que ambos son esenciales. 

PC- Por supuesto que ambos son esenciales. El esfuerzo y el tiempo también son importantes. Componer música es difícil, no es fácil. Es importante sumergirse en una obra de una manera casi obsesiva y excluido del mundo. Un buen trabajo requiere mucho tiempo y nunca hay suficiente. Entonces, cuando escribo, no hay tiempo para nada más sino el trabajo. 

ET- Tus composiciones son evocadoras y filosóficas. ¿Qué tipo de creencias tienes?

PC- Bueno, espero que haya un Dios. Yo sí creo, pero también albergo dudas en determinados momentos. Creo que es más importante ser una buena persona que simplemente una persona religiosa. Filosóficamente me siento muy atraído por el cristianismo, encuentro la ética y la justicia de estas creencias  reconfortantes. 

ET- ¿Te atreverías a elegir las dos o tres mejores películas de la historia, tres obras maestras de la pintura y tres de la música? 

PC- Esto es muy difícil. Mis obras favoritas cambian continuamente, así que voy para elegir estas opciones desde la inteligencia. Películas: La Misión, El último mohicano, Badlands. Pinturas: El techo de la Capilla Sixtina de Miguel Ángel, La decapitación de Caravaggio San Juan Bautista, la Mona Lisa de Da Vinci. Música: Wachett Auf de Bach, Ruft Uns Die Stimme, El Mesías de Handel, Mozart Réquiem. 

Handel-El Mesías

ET- Y, ¿cuáles de tus propias obras son las que crees que tienen mayor calidad? 

PC- Siento que mis trabajos más recientes son los mejores. La ópera 'Dante', que se estrenará el año que viene, y 'La Misa'. Supongo que esto es típico de estar entusiasmado con la mayoría. cosas recientes que hacemos. 

ET- Siguiendo nuestra conversación sobre Arte, en la entrevista anterior en 2015 usted nos habló de su preferencia por Bach, Handel y Mozart. ¿Podría usted nombrar una composición que en particular admires de cada uno de esos compositores? Y gracias a tus conocimientos, ¿cuál crees que es la pieza más compleja de la música en la historia? 

PC- ¡Ja ja! Acabo de escoger una pieza de cada uno de estos compositores en la pregunta 7. No pienso que esa complejidad sea importante en sí misma. En las mayores composiciones la complejidad está oculta y disfrazada por la grandeza de la arquitectura general. Siento que esto es particularmente cierto en el caso de Bach. En su gran Cantata la belleza es tan abrumadora que nos perdemos en la experiencia. En la experiencia no somos conscientes de la complejidad que existe en la partitura. 

ET- Actualmente y después de tu excelente carrera, ¿qué te interesa más, un gran proyecto cinematográfico o una gran pieza clásica? 

PC- Ambos me interesan. Pero, por supuesto, la música clásica de concierto es la mejor experiencia y ofrece más posibilidades al compositor. En una película la música es uno de los muchos elementos, lo que es esencialmente una colaboración entre artistas. En los últimos tiempos he estado concentrándose más en obras de concierto. Me considero afortunado de tener estas oportunidades. 

Patrick Cassidy- Cruit

ET- Soy español. ¿Conoces la música de cine en España? ¿Sabes acerca de Alberto Iglesias? En mi opinión, es el mejor músico de cine español, un autor clásico como tú, más influenciado por la música de cámara por su composiciones que la vertiente sinfónica que sueles aplicar. 

PC- Alberto Iglesias es un gran compositor y muy fiel a la cultura de España. Tengo gran respeto por la historia y la cultura de este gran país. Como compositor es muy importante tener tu propia voz en lugar de ser genérica o demasiado influenciado por sus contemporáneos. Como Alberto Iglesias, he intentado buscar mi estilo. Estoy inmerso en la música y la cultura de Irlanda y esto me permite ser diferente y ojalá único. 

ET- Tu última composición “The Mass”, ¿podrías explicar su agenda, la fecha de estreno, su futuro…? 

Tuvimos una actuación el año pasado en Los Ángeles en la Iglesia Primera Congregación. El año que viene habrá otra actuación en la misma iglesia. He estado muy ocupado por mi nueva ópera, no he prestado suficiente atención a la interpretación de 'The Mass', pero el trabajo es muy personal e importante para mí. 

PC- ¿Qué tipo de proyectos tienes que se puedan anunciar en nuestra web, END TITLES, tanto para cine como para música en general? 

Bueno, tienes mi ópera 'Dante' que ya he mencionado. Creo que haré una película en Italia a principios del próximo año, pero no tengo la libertad de informarles título en esta etapa. Ojalá en algún momento en el futuro tenga la oportunidad de trabajar en España. Aprecio mucho su interés y le agradezco la oportunidad de comunicarse con su lectores.

LEE AQUÍ LA ENTREVISTA QUE LE HICIMOS EN 2015

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END TITLES AGRADECE ENORMEMENTE LA DISPOSICIÓN, SIEMPRE EXQUISITA, DE PATRICK CASSIDY.

GRACIAS, MAESTRO.

Antonio Miranda- Diciembre 2023

BSO- CENIZAS Y NIEVE (Ashes and snow)- Lisa Gerrard, Patrick Cassidy, Michael Brook.

10 sobre 10

ASHES AND SNOW (2005).

Lisa Gerrard, Patrick Cassidy, Michael Brook & Varios.

EL AGUA Y LAS PROFUNDIDADES: ¿Podríamos describir la primera secuencia, de aproximadamente ocho minutos, como una metáfora religiosa, como la ascensión de Jesucristo hasta su Padre, así la unión del Hijo del Hombre, representando a la raza humana, encontrándose con su Dios (el primer animal marino, la ballena) tras la conversión de una de las personas en Él, en el Todopoderoso? El matiz simbólico, metafísico y espiritual de este filme experimental es asombroso. La partitura (elegante, psíquica y lineal) es una figura celeste que traza las líneas delicadas de cada secuencia, sin cortes, sin pausas y actuando como colchón de agua hacia los bailarines marinos o lenta atmósfera que lo sujeta todo. La música, que embelesaría a cualquier inquieto de cultura, supone la más absoluta descripción de lo que acontece y, más allá, de lo que trasciende al ver lo que sucede.

EL AGUA Y LA SUPERFICIE: La composición continúa su estructura sintetizada, etérea, reflejo del agua que fluye en la superficie de la tierra, de los templos. Curiosamente, otros ocho minutos de escena que terminan con la música impasible a cualquier cambio; no obstante, concluidas las dos secuencias de idéntico minutaje, la composición golpea:

EL CIELO Y DIOS: El duduk (sin duda, para nosotros, la imagen de Dios representada por los elefantes) aparece tan majestuoso como lívido, elegante, absorbente y mágico. Metafísico y divino, el texto de la voz en off nos guía y descubre dónde nos encontramos, el recinto extasiante del Cielo, donde descansan los elefantes dormidos con un ojo abierto, velando por nosotros. El Hijo del Hombre ascendió, durante la primera escena, a los cielos donde ahora presenciamos a la raza y los elefantes. La partitura, como decimos, golpea de forma absoluta con una parsimonia y delicadeza extremas. Una habilidad encomiable y un duduk dominador de todo.

DIOS Y LA RAZA: Tras exactos otros ocho minutos de ‘’El Cielo y Dios’’, la música asciende pareciendo ser empujada por la secuencia anterior (el duduk y la voz masculina hacia una esfera más allá). El instante es sobrecogedor, pocas veces en la historia del cine una voz hiere tan profundamente la escena, el alma y la vida del espectador: Lisa Gerrard aparece espectacular insertada en la historia, fijándote quizá la muerte que aguarda (la historia nos sitúa en lugares cósmicos, lejanos a toda realidad vital) o la vida que llega (con la figura de la mujer, el águila y la esfera que frota contra su vientre como si de su hijo se tratase). La metafísica que llega a engendrarse en la simbiosis imagen-voz es prácticamente inabordable. Un espectáculo para cualquier persona ávida de Arte. Lisa Gerrard, absolutamente, se transforma en el elemento principal de toda la concepción de la historia. Llegamos a intuir, incluso, una semejanza curiosa, un hecho inquietante en cuanto a la muerte y la vida: la chiquillería asciende por la ladera de la montaña hacia el elefante como si la vida acudiera a la muerte, como si la muerte y la famosa escena de ‘’El séptimo sello’’, de Igmar Bergman, asomara de pronto en pantalla chocando con la vitalidad de los pequeños y pequeñas o certificando la pesimista visión del final de la vida al separarse la madre de los hijos, que de la mano por la ladera ascienden y se alejan y se mueren, expulsados del ‘’Paraíso’’. Asombroso.

LA TIERRA: sobre una nota mantenida de las cuerdas graves, Lisa entona el cántico de la desgracia; la voz en off narra más y más elementos terrestres, animales, sucesos, vemos las hienas, recordamos los sueños. La raza ha sido desterrada o el Hombre ha muerto. No hay un elemento más absoluto que la compositora y su influyente voz.

DIOS: el humano y el elefante danzan bajo el agua; Cristo y Dios mismo se fusionan. Escuchamos nuevamente el duduk y nuestra explicación de la fusión entre el instrumento y la simbología divina del animal nos certifican lo dicho. La bestia, tranquila, paciente y hermosa, juguetea sin apenas moverse junto al Hombre, al lado de la Mujer. La etérea atmósfera de la historia brota por todos lados. El amor, la vida, la muerte, la lejanía, los sueños, la cosmología… incluso la sexualidad prohibida (especialmente llamativa resulta la danza de las dos mujeres bajo el elefante y entre la manada, siempre acariciadas por la melodía y el timbre enigmático del duduk, como si Dios mismo besara ruborizado la piel de las dos hermosas bailarinas).

Concluyendo, composición de muy variados artistas entre los que sobresale, sin duda alguna, Lisa Gerrard. Unidad completa y sin fisuras, el sonido del duduk como comando primero a seguir y un resultado final a la altura de grandes obras de arte del cine. Imprescindible.

PUNTUACIÓN: 10           

Antonio Miranda. Octubre 2016.

BSO- 1916, THE IRISH REBELLION- Patrick Cassidy.

8.5 sobre 10

THE IRISH REBELLION (2016).

PATRICK CASSIDY.

ENTREVISTA A PATRICK CASSIDY.

Nigún trabajo del genial compositor irlandés bucea por debajo del notable, atreviéndonos a decir que su concepto de arte musical para con la imagen es de sobresaliente. Nos encontramos ante una obra del estilo más puramente ''Cassidy'', minimalista y tiernamente ahogante para aquel que no aprecie la compleja sencillez (y hermoso hasta cotas extremas).

Miniserie para televisión que el compositor trabaja tras su rotundo éxito (como siempre, poco reconocido) en ''Calvary''. La línea estructural del trabajo sigue una similar a la película comentada, con dos temas (inicial y final) interpretados a la voz por la cantante Sibéal cuya base melódica resulta incluso trivial y que, poco a poco, Cassidy se encarga de encumbrar admirablemente a unas cimas que sorprenden. La capacidad del músico para insertar la melodía principal sobre el colchón sencillo de la orquesta queda al alcance de muy pocos compositores del momento.

En ''1916...'' encontramos varios fragmentos dramáticos, a ratos adornados con instrumentos tradicionales, acordes a la acción de los acontecimientos históricos que se narran en la serie. Igualmente sencillos, no desentonan (aunque sí resultan el apartado más flojo de la partitura) con el conjunto global, aderezado magistralmente por varios temas pausados y uno al piano que no hace sino enmudecer al oyente como antesala del final.

En definitiva, obra imprescindible de un músico imprescindible en el panorama actual del Arte.

Puntuación: 8.5

Antonio Miranda. Agosto 2016.

INTERVIEW- PATRICK CASSIDY.

 A renowned Irish born composer of great distinction and reputation, Patrick Cassidy came into prominence with the release of the Children of Lir, (the setting of the great Legend) the first major symphonic work written in the Irish language. Recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and Choir, it remained at Number One in the Irish Classical Charts for over a year.

Studying piano and harp from an early age, Patrick developed a singular style of composition, involving lush melodies and layered orchestration.

We are proud to chat with Patrick Cassidy, and with the highest artistic enthusiasm, we want to share it with all of you.

For those who are unfamiliar with his work, we recommend you the listening and enjoyment, always from the serious side of Art.

-         END TITLES (ET): Mr. Cassidy, we are specially grateful for your immediate disposition to talk a little bit about yourself. In End Titles we love Art, and even we practice it, and we are aware of the special and deep vital conception of artists. We would like you to talk briefly about how a genius of music like Patrick Cassidy conceives the man´s existence. Your intense relationship with Maths and the deep spirituallity of your compositions create a really explosive mix. How does everything fit?

-         PATRICK CASSIDY (PC): Thank you for your kind words. I love music and consider myself to be very fortunate in what I do with my life. I did study mathematics at University mainly because my father felt it was important to have something to fall back on. I do not regret it.

I suppose my music is quite spiritual and I have written a lot of liturgical and semi-liturgical pieces like 'Famine Remembrance' and The 'Children of Lir'. Maybe that was the reason John Michael McDonagh chose me to score his film 'Calvary'.

-         ET: Could you talk to us about the music you would buy and listen at home? About the classical and modern music that you like, and if you follow specially any kind of art such as Painting, Sculpture, etc?

-         PC: I love classical music. My favourite composer is Bach but I also love Handel and Mozart. Of the 20^th century composers I am very influenced by Elgar. Also the Russian composers.

Growing up in Ireland all the members of my family played music, both Classical and Irish traditional. One of my aunties was a very good painter as was one of my sisters. I had no talent in this area. But I do love all art; painting, sculptor and literature. I also enjoy reading history books when I take a break from work.

-         ET: In End Titles we would like to seize the opportunity to ask you for your opinion about present Film Music, completely opposite to yours and based on technology and commercial results. What is your opinion on this regard?

-         PC: I now live in Los Angeles and this is the hub of film music. Very talented people come here from all over the world. So I do admire my fellow composers whatever their niche. I myself have a very classical approach. But in film music we are expected to be versatile and competent to compose in many styles.

I do think that film music has become a little generic in recent times. But I also think there can be opportunities to break with this trend. Thankfully people are always looking for something new and different.

-         ET: We are releasing your words along with a review of your latest score for movies, ‘Calvary’, a gem that, according to our opinion, should have been awarded all kinds of international prizes. How was your participation in this film? Could you tell us about your relationship with director J.M. McDonagh as far as the music you composed is concerned, or any anecdote about the process?

-         PC: Thank you so much, I am very proud of this film. An exceptional script and powerful performances from the great cast of actors. I liked working with John Michael. He was quite hands off but also very adamant about what he wanted. A difficult balance! There was a great atmosphere in post production. Everyone wanted to give their very best because we all loved the movie.

The movie itself is about the great social upheaval in Ireland and we see this through the eyes of a Catholic priest. I remember Pope Francis was actually elected while we were working in post production. We all wondered how the Church would react to the film. I feel it is a deeply spiritual movie and full of thought provoking allegory. The reaction from the public and critics, and amazingly the Church, was astonishing and beyond my expectations.

SHOW REEL FROM PATRICK CASSIDY 


SOUNDTRACK REVIEW: ''CALVARY''. 

-         ET: End Titles loves Classical Music. Your education about it is laudable and your influences are obvious, getting close to clasicism in a wonderful way. Could you tell us about your classical likings, authors that you consider most importants in Music history, or essential works?

-         PC: I already touched briefly on this subject. I am most influenced by the great choral liturgical music of the Baroque and Classical periods. Bach's Cantatas are, in my opinion, the closest thing to perfection.

I recently composed a setting of the Latin Mass and as part of the process found myself studying the great Masses - Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mozart's Mass in C Minor and of course Bach's Mass in B Minor. For me these are essential works.

-         ET: You have several and always outstanding collaborations with great Lisa Gerrard. The quality that you both together achieve is essential for any follower of Art, and this is something really difficult as you are both highest-level composers. Could you tell us about this collaboration? What are Patrick Cassidy and Lisa Gerrard working together like?

-         PC: I travelled to Australia to work on an album, which became 'Immortal Memory', with Lisa. I spent 3 months there initially, living with her family; and later a return trip to finish the album. It was very rewarding. Lisa has an amazing and unique talent. We tried to explore some unfamiliar territory. For instance on one of the pieces Lisa sings in Gaelic.

It has been quite a while since I last worked with Lisa. Maybe we will do something together in the future. We are great friends.

-         ET: Finally, could you tell us and all the lovers of your music in End Titles, what your next projects in mind are?

-         PC: I have just finished scoring '1916 The Irish Rebellion'. It is a documentary coinciding with the centenary of the rebellion that led to Irish Independence. It is narrated by Liam Neeson. The premiere will be at the National Concert Hall in Dublin on 16^th March with a live orchestra and Liam Neeson also narrating live. The soundtrack will be release in the new year.

I have also finished writing a new opera titled 'Dante'. The opera relates the story of the great poets life. We are planning a premiere for 2017.

-         ET: Thank you so much for responding to us so kindly. It’s a real pleasure for us to talk with a genius of present Music such as Patrick Cassidy.

-         PC: And thank you. It has been a pleasure.

END TITLES. DECEMBER. 2015.

SOUNDTRACK- CALVARY- PATRICK CASSIDY.

  10out of 10

CALVARY (2014)

Patrick Cassidy

It’s complicated for any lover of Art and Music not to approach in an almost abrupt way the artistic career of the Irish composer, doubtlessly one of (unknown) geniuses of Art in its full dimension. Very close to the nuances of absolute orchestral minimalism and maker of drastical feelings, Cassidy maintains in his whole work a study and an intellectual meditation enviable by any artist and within the reach of few of them. Nevertheless, tough to listen to and understand.

Remembered (or intuited) by many thanks to his magnificent aria for ‘Hannibal’ soundtrack, ‘Vide cor Meum’, (although with masterworks and exuberant collaborations with the best voice of present scene, Lisa Gerrard, on his back), Cassidy offers in ‘Calvary’ a transcendental and thought-out score, absolute reflection of Father James Lavelle’s state of mind and vital disquietude, maintained in all its extension by constant, simple and melodic notes. A few minutes after the story is started, we will understand its form (regardless of the meaning): the composer couldn’t make a complex structure when it refers itself to the life of a man between rustic rooms, speeches on kindness and right intentions. Equally being the supporting point of past memories and melancholy for those beloved who are not present anymore.

John Michael McDonagh, the director, starts increasingly linking up a story that, somewhat disjointed in the beginning, makes the viewer’s attention focus on the intellectual scope smartly. So many characters, visits and preachings from the priest lead us, with scattered small fragments of the score, to think only of the priest, who lives sad because of a tragical event from the past, that later on, when all the stories converge (in the town’s bar), we can understand. The use, during the first part of the film, of typical Irish Folk songs in mundane situations and the use of the original score in the most substantial moments, show us a fundamental basis in the film: the vital weariness and the reluctance for existence on one side, and the vulgarity that life offers on the other side, when both sides come together. Cassidy shows up with the voice (as an important and metaphysical soloist instrument), making clear the path his work is going to take (‘Memories fade’). It’s the first thing we listen. Gently, the songs chosen by the director will be inserted along with the mentioned small excerpts of the themes composed by Cassidy. The artist’s ability is huge, adopting the form of a musical quietude and temperance not very often listened before, even in the two highest sequences of the story. The first one takes place at the midtime of the incidents, with Father Lavelle assisting a mortally wounded man and comforting his wife at the same time. It’s then that the second ‘Calvary’ theme, dramatical, archetype of Beauty, shows up in a powerful way and for the first time. Once achieved his presentation in the film, Cassidy (with the vital and mundane stories of the characters of the town already knotted) developes his maximum presence and ability in the whole. Patiently, without showing up, the other important moment awaits, referred now to the earthly field (the priest relapses again in alcohol, as one of the non-original songs for the films is listened) and its appearance in the end is absolute.

Calvary’s ending couldn’t be explained in a few words. What the composer reaches to induce in that moment, in the last sequence, is so powerful that a dramatic event gets to be treated through loveliness without any kind of fissure or danger (‘Say your prayers’).

The risk is maximum: the brilliant artist starts the moment with a couple of held high notes and the bass sounds announcing the voice coming. Terrible, truthful, tragical, sublime... No matter which position you have maintained during the film: sadness, tenderness, pain... they will be shaken out of you by listening a single note. In the opinion of who writes this lines, one of the most overwhelmingly controlled by music story-endings. Absolute beauty. Ethereal lyricism.

In summary, we are before an exceptional work, a sacral minimalism that, just because it is, is not often recognised as it deserves, something that grants it an even bigger appeal. Doubtlessly one of the best compositions in the last years and an artist and work that any lover of minority music should listen to.

LISTEN TO IT IF...: you like extremely calm music. It’s not a relaxing score or something similar. Get ready to go through a deep level of musical thought.

DON’T LISTEN TO IT IF...: you hate moments of superior artistic study.

END TITLES RECOMMENDATION: essential modern work.

OTHER RECOMMENDED WORKS FROM THE COMPOSER: ‘Hannibal’, ‘Immortal memory’.

MARK: 10 out of 10

END TITLES, DECEMBER 2015.