Eternity, written for EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, is based on Arthur Rimbaud's poem of the same name. 

It takes the concept of Eternity and renders it in quite an extreme way – overlapping lines, or waves of eternity eventually dissolve into discrete textural incidents, which then bleed or crossfade into each other. Each verse has a distinct swatch of texture, and the text is never declaimed in compact units, which gives the piece the feel of a constantly evolving texture.  Conceptually, the intention was to create an object that constantly undergoes disturbances, but eventually returns to a kind of equilibrium – no matter how far the material may struggle to change shape or become something else, it eventually snaps back to its ‘eternal’ state in the end, and there is a lot of struggle!

Harmonically, this is probably the most dissonant piece that I have ever written, it is largely hexachordal (made up of six-note chords), and the first chord from which the piece grows comes from spectral analysis of a distorted electric guitar chord. The resultant harmony (to simplify somewhat) is quite ‘murky’ or ‘dark’, but it resolves onto very bright, consonant harmony at key points in the text, which I will not spoil by telling you in advance.

Performed by EXAUDI.
Conducted by James Weeks.

Eternity

Firelight

Yi-Ning Liao - Violin
Emiko Edwards - Piano

Colour Shift takes a series of inharmonic chords and renders them as expanding and contracting lines, which bleed into each other, going rapidly from murky to bright, from rich to dry. Both instruments constantly trade roles, with the dialogue between the two becoming more frenzied as the piece progresses.

Colour Shift

Text by Sally O'Reilly
Music by Chris McCormack

Claire Lees - Soprano
Conductor - James Hoyle

Yi-Ning Liao - Violin 
Chin-Cheng Chuang - Violin
Jakub Chlepko - Viola
Timothy Lin - Cello
Chris McCormack - Electronics




Song for Insomniac Riggers (Live at Wigmore Hall)

Liam Byrne - Bass Viol
Chris McCormack - Electronics

Alnico - Live at Curious 2016

Performed by Crash Ensemble at New Music Dublin 2019.

Like Elastic

Chris McCormack (b. 1992) is an Irish composer and producer, currently based in London. His work has been performed by, among others - Crash Ensemble, Plus Minus Ensemble, Liam Byrne, EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, Dr. John Feeley, Ensemble Adesso and the Dublin Laptop Orchestra. He holds a Masters degree in Composition (Distinction) from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Dr. Richard Baker, on scholarships from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust and the Guildhall School Trust. In 2014, he graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, specialising in Composition under Dr. Donnacha Dennehy and Dr. Evangelia Rigaki. Chris also studied Classical Guitar and Composition at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, with Marion Hyland and Dr. Kevin O'Connell, and Jazz Improvisation at the Dublin Institute of Technology with guitarist and composer Mike Nielsen.

An active producer since 2010, he has produced records for bands, classical ensembles, recorded music for television broadcast and for film, and created electronic music for diffusion across a variety of media. His current compositional work frequently explores the interaction of electronics and live sound, and the influence of electronic sound on acoustic music.

Chris McCormack

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