Mosaics and Sketches: Brian Boydell’s Music for Harp

The harp is well represented in the composition catalogue of Irish composer Brian
Boydell (1917-2000) and features significantly in the composer’s concert
programmes, most notably in the musical celebrations for his seventieth and
eightieth birthdays presented at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. He collaborated
with many of Ireland’s leading harpists to produce solo works for Irish harp and
pedal harp, voice and Irish harp, chamber ensembles and orchestra. This
presentation focuses on works written and revised in the period of 1960-1980,
including Quintet for Flute, Harp and String Trio, Op. 49 (1960, revised 1966 and
1980), Four Sketches for Two Irish Harps, Op. 52 (1961 - 1962), A Pack of Fancies for
a Travelling Harper, Op. 66 (1970) and Five Mosaics for Violin and Harp, Op. 69
(1972). With a particular focus on performance considerations, the presentation will
consider the context of the works in terms of Boydell’s compositional output,
drawing on a variety of sources, including manuscript scores, correspondence,
interviews, concert programmes and reviews.

[The paper included live performance of extracts from Boydell’s solo work for harp, ‘A Pack of Fancies for a Travelling Harper’.]