two reflections 2003-4 
commemorating the centenary of the fastnet lighthouse
I.	the sea and the tower
II.	the light

In 2003 I was very fortunate to spend one night in July on the Fastnet Lighthouse. The experience will be forever etched on my mind — the weather was good and I was able to view the wonderful panorama and experience the thrill of being totally isolated, surrounded by the sea and the elements. 

I was happy to have the freedom to roam the entire lighthouse, which enabled me to make video and audio recordings on each floor. These audio recordings form the basis of the first part of my piece. Since the lowest floors comprise the engines which run everything in the tower, I set about recording them first and then recorded every sound source available, including the radio transmissions, the foghorn, right up to the light which has a quieter crackling sound. Outside, sounds of nature — seagulls, the sea, wind and waves crashing against the rocks — were also an invaluable stimulus. 

The first track, the sea and the tower, uses exclusively location recordings. The sea forms the constant backdrop. Sounds of seagulls and the ebb and flow of the tide contrast with the outbursts of man-made noise from within the tower. 

The second section, the light, is purely electronic (ie electronically generated tones), and thus represents a personal reflection of my experience of the tower. Variations in light — both natural light and that from the lighthouse — are the principal inspiration here. The play of light on the open sea, broken suddenly by a crashing wave; the gradual shading from full daylight, through dusk, to night; the sudden flash of a seagull caught in the lighthouse beam; and, calmly watching over all, the regular pulsing of the lighthouse itself, once every five seconds, echoed in the fading pulse at the close of the piece.
This piece was commissioned by David Bedlow on behalf of the Commissioners for the Irish Lights and was first performed in their headquarters on 3rd of September 2004.

Two Reflections By Grainne Mulvey, Visual by Mihai Cucu.

Ash
for multi-channel fixed media (2019)
On being invited to present a work at this convention, my initial thought was to remix one of my earlier electronic works for the 12.1 surround system available. However, the amount of work this would entail led me to consider that an entirely new piece—conceived from the start for the expanded spatial possibilities—would be a more fruitful approach. Faced with the completely blank canvas that a purely electronic work presents, as I searched for a “way in”, I noticed the name of this event: AESC, which is also the usual transliteration of the aesc rune, which takes its name from the ash tree.
At once, I was struck by the wealth of symbolism and meaning in that one word. One thinks immediately of the world ash tree, Yggdrasil, of Norse mythology, from which Odin cut the haft of his spear, on which were carved the runes which gave him his power and authority. Analysis of ash residue is an important technique in chemistry. The ash from bush fires in the Australian outback is both a result of the destruction and the stimulus for new growth. The growing threat from fungal ash dieback was also in my mind.
The recurring image of destruction and rebirth led me to sounds that are in a constant state of “becoming”, dissolving then recombining in new configurations which are in their turn torn apart and reassembled, and so on in a continuous process. Overall, the trajectory—as in nature—is towards increasing entropy. The pitched bell sounds at the beginning are variously stretched, reversed, inverted, delayed and processed by means of granular synthesis, gradually disintegrating into the noise that closes the piece.
Gráinne Mulvey, 2019

Ash (revised) Stereo — Mix2 (master1)

Perisonic Trains

“A Carlow Song Cycle” is the brainchild of the Carlow poet, Derek Coyle and guitarist Morgan Buckley, who commissioned the piece.
It centres on the poetry of Derek Coyle, based on the environment and location of Carlow, his childhood and experiences of growing up within the greater global community. 
The piece is for soprano, guitar and has an electronic movement with the poet’s reading of one of his works called “The Shoulder”. 
It has six short movements in total, lasting approximately 25 minutes. The premiere was performed by soprano Elizabeth Hilliard and guitarist Morgan Buckley on the 11th January, 2019, in VISUAL, Carlow.

The Shoulder - by Gráinne Mulvey, Poem by Derek Coyle.

Awakening

A leader of the Irish Volunteers and the most senior of the 77 women who participated in the Rising - the only woman to have had a death sentence passed (though later commuted to imprisonment) - Countess Markievicz vehemently opposed the imposition of Greenwich Mean Time in Ireland, which she regarded as an act of oppression - the “forcing of English time on us”.

In my piece Awakening, I have pictured the track of the sun across the Earth, reaching Dublin 25 minutes and 21 seconds after London, rolling inexorably like the great wave of political change that was sweeping the world a century ago. Transformation is central to the piece. The opening crackling sounds (derived from processed speech fragments and recordings of solar and interstellar radio emissions) relate both literally to light particles - photons - and to the crackle of rebellion - and of gunfire - which grows into the hope of a new dawn; a wave of consciousness segueing into bells and voices greeting the morning. The piece ends with the recollection of one of the women: Countess Markievicz exhorting them to “hold your heads high", while they were being marched to Richmond Barracks.

Awakening is dedicated to all those brave women and men who took part in or were affiliated with the Rising - including my two great-uncles Dominic and William Mulvey, who were among those occupying the GPO. 

Gráinne Mulvey (2016)

Mulvey Awakening

Proclamation (2016)
In 2015 I was commissioned to write a piece for Chamber Choir Ireland, as part of the 1916 Centenary commemorations. As part of the preparatory work, I recorded the members of Carlow Choral Society, under their director Niall Kinsella, speaking the text of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic in various ways: in rhythmic unison, as a babbling crowd, women only, men only, all together... These recordings form the source material for this work.
The Proclamation is notable for its far-seeing inclusivity; drawn up by a highly intellectual group—the leaders of the Rising included poets, playwrights, educators—it is a bold statement of their aspirations for the envisaged new state:
The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past.
Proclamation and its companion work Awakening are dedicated to all those brave women and men who took part in, or were affiliated with the Rising— including my two great-uncles Dominic and William Mulvey, who were among those occupying the GPO.
Gráinne Mulvey, 2016

Gráinne Mulvey

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