My 2007 work for (improvising) saxophonist and ensemble, performed by Cathal Roche, Hugh Tinney, Malachy Robinson and the Vanbrugh Quartet. Inspired by Samuel Beckett's stage work 'Play'.

re:play (septet for tenor sax, piano, double bass & string quartet)

just getting the 1 rough take today with some bum notes and liberties taken.. played on my return home in thanks for music made today :) x
CR June 2015

Bach Cello Suite No.1, Prelude

Bach Cello Suite No.2, Prelude

'Therefore I am…' (2012)
This is the only purely instrumental work of my three Tallaght Hospital (Dublin) projects. I spent time observing and interacting with dementia patients and this six-movement work resulted, each one reflecting a different aspect of dealing with dementia.
'The Appointment' tries to capture the tension and anxiety of seeing a doctor when dementia is the issue, and the 2nd movement, 'Face, velvet, red (memory test)', reflects the difficulties of repeating things exactly when suffering from dementia, especially during doctors’ infamous memory tests. Utermohlen was a very good artist who developed dementia – his work, like the third movement ('Utermohlen Variations'), shows his gradual decline. 'Frontotemporal' is one part of the brain affected by dementia, and which can cause obsessive behaviour (hence the repeated tune). 'Slow & sweet (& soft' was how a daughter reminded her father to treat her mother, the latter having developed dementia at a young age, and so it’s a tender piece. The final movement takes the jazz standard 'Autumn leaves' and uses it to reflect the gradual disintegration of a dementia sufferer’s personality as it dissembles through time – although sometimes the sufferer can carry on in their own world quite contentedly, as the saxophonist does here.

The performers are Cathal Roche, saxophone; Ken Rice, violin; Joachim Roewer, viola; and Malachy Robinson, double bass.

'Therefore I am...' 4: 'Frontotemporal'

An excerpt from "As the quiet crow flies", a collaborative recording between Ireland's leading sound art collective The Quiet Club and Ireland's most adventurous improvising duo, crOw.
See: http://farpointrecordings.com/cds/quiet-club--crow--as-the-quiet-crow/ 

The Quiet Club + crOw [Excpt 1]

‘The Hours’ (2013) is an innovative, genre-blurring work which combines a classical approach to form – the concerto – with a more improvisatory approach to content, i.e. a flexibility regarding interpretation, inspiration and communion between players found particularly in improvised music. 

Basing the work on the structure of a cloistered day – the seven prayer times spanning from before dawn to night-time – provides an evolutionary structure featuring three solos, three duos and the complete trio of principal improvisers, although the string quartet is also to the fore at times. Rather than reflect monastic matters however, this work is instead concerned with rhythmic and melodic modes and patterns as fundamental material, drawing particularly upon the melodic and rhythmic shapes of the plainchants associated with the Canonical hours Prime, Lauds, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline, also the titles of the work’s seven movements.

Performed by Cathal Roche, saxophones, Ronan Guilfoyle, bass, Matthew Jacobson, drums and the ConTempo Quartet.


The Hours (chamber jazz concerto for sax, bass, drums & string quartet)

'The Book of Ways' (2010) is a 30- to 35-minute work for improvising saxophonist and improvising string quartet. Actually, the quartet does not improvise completely but rather uses notated material in such a way that each quartet member can choose what to play, when and how to play it. The goal is spontaneous interaction and reaction between the quartet and improvising soloist, and vice versa.

Ten hexagrams were chosen from the total of 64 found in the I-Ching, of Chinese Book of Changes. Saxophonist Cathal Roche found that each hexagram could dictate what fingers he was allowed to keep down and which ones he was allowed to move when playing. Improvising using the hexagrams in this way gave rise to certain motivic, melodic and harmonic motifs and phrases, which in turn formed the basis of the material I wrote for the string quartet. The chosen hexagrams were numbers 1, 5, 7, 16, 28, 34, 40, 46, 48 and 51.
The original intention was to allow a classically-trained string quartet to respond spontaneously to what an improvising musician played, but in the process it as found that the communication was much more fluid than that and the soloist was able to respond in turn to what the quartet was playing.
The members of (here)the Vanbrugh Quartet play both as individuals and together as a quartet – moments of unison or ‘togetherness’ are queued by specific players at points decided in the moment, allowing the piece to unfold freely.
The movements can be played in any order, ideally chosen just before the performance. Cathal Roche performs here on soprano and baritone saxophones, five movements on one then five on the other.


The Book of Ways (improvising saxophonist & improvising string quartet)

My 'Double Trio' (2008) was written during the summer and autumn of 2008 as the main focus of a one-year residency in the Glencullen area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (just south of Dublin), which was one of six artist residencies awarded by the County Council in 2008 as part of its 'Place & Identity' programme.

'Double Trio' follows on from my 2007 septet 're:play', where an improvising saxophonist and a ‘classical’ sextet came together in music which was partly improvised (for the saxophonist). 'Double Trio' is written for three improvisers (playing saxophone, double bass and drums) and three classical musicians (playing violin, vibraphone and harp) and takes, like 're:play', its initial inspiration from speech rhythms and melodies. In the case of 'Double Trio', the material comes from a number of interviews I conducted with residents of the Glencullen area of south Dublin, where we discussed how they felt about the changes the area had undergone – or not – during the time of the Celtic Tiger economic boom. The intention was to create an exciting and inventive musical work and at the same time attempt to paint a musical picture of life at that point in Glencullen, one of the least spoiled parts of the country and, paradoxically, one of the areas which has seen most development (depending on which part of Glencullen you are in).

The musicians are Cathal Roche, saxophonist, Daniel Bodwell, bass and Stu Ritchie, drums plus Mia Cooper, violin, Cliona Doris, harp and Richard O’Donnell, vibraphone.

'Double Trio' lasts approximately 55 minutes and is in eight main sections, each one inspired by one of the interviews: 
Kids//The Stonemason//Catherine//The Hostelry Manager//The Forestry Manager//The Convenience Store Owner//Residents//The Reverend


Double Trio (jazz trio and classical trio)

'Creating Evil, Face It!' is Matthew Jacobson's anagram for 'leaving certificate'Please enjoy this live excerpt of Matthew's 'Create Evil, let's Face it.'with me and F-JOB, (Cormac O Brien on bass and Greg Felton on piano).

solo on Matthew J's 'Creating Evil, Face It!' by FJOB+ Cathal Roche live @arthurs '16

an excerpt from Possession by Ian Wilson, premiere performance, October 2nd, 2016
with Cathal Roche, sax

'Possession' by Ian Wilson (premiere) excerpt

Practicing The Kerry Reel, adapted to 7/8. Cathal Roche, Soprano sax.

solo on Matthew J's 'Creating Evil, Face It!' by FJOB+ Cathal Roche live @arthurs '16

catroche