SHINDIG - Marathon - 12-13.30
Saturday 13 October, 2007
"Crash have definitely change they stylistic expectation of the public in regard to new music in Ireland, taking it away from a bias towards European modernism, and that is an achievement belonging uniquely to them."
'There is an iconoclastic quality in their programming that seeks to work against prevailing currents, and this is not a figment of their imaginations"
"They have pushed the contemporary music culture in Ireland in a direction that it simply wasn't going heretofore, and they have placed performers inside that culture more strongly that before."
John McLachlan JMI NovDec 07
SHINDIG - Marathon - 14-15.30
Saturday 13 October, 2007
"there is no denying Crash's effectiveness of purpose"
"Where such maverick tendencies are found in Ireland and in Europe, Crash embraces them. The tension and sometimes extraordinary conflict of style that this involves has always been a regular feature of Crash Ensemble concerts, and this is another way in which they have been usefully unique here."
"their programmes always reflecting the messy reality of music today."
John McLachlan JMI NovDec 07
SHINDIG - Marathon - 16-17.30
Saturday 13 October, 2007
"But of course who we are [as Irish people], if it can ever be meaningfully discussed at all, is a dynamic ever changing picture of which Crash is now part."
"[Crash are] central to the rapid development of a rich electronica scene that didn't exist not so long ago, in which new hybrids are flourishing."
"admirably, premiere does not also mean derniére with Crash."
John McLachlan JMI NovDec 07
SHINDIG - Marathon - 19-20.30
Saturday 13 October, 2007
"Some exceptional highlights being [...] Glass's Music in Similar Motion, which the ensemble enjoyed taking at a fair lick, Erik Lund's Missing Intelligence was for me the discovery of the day - a tremendous piece that successfully combined the diverse stylistic strands that Crash bring; quite funky but also embracing complexity"
John McLachlan JMI NovDec 07
SHINDIG - Marathon - 21-22.30
Saturday 13 October, 2007
Attending the entire marathon was tiring but uplifting. The venue, the converted church of Saints Michael and John in Temple Bar, has the best acoustics of any I have heard the Crash use in Dublin, and the way that the 30 works were grouped almost always felt right. Not one of the performances was below par.
But for sheer compositional pizazz, it was hard to beat Terry Riley's Loops for Ancient Giant Nude Hairy Warriors Racing Down the Slopes of Battle. Written for the Crash Ensemble and premiered at the Drogheda Arts Festival earlier this year, this three- movement work sees the legendary Californian letting his hair down. Packed with direct aural references, and executed with cheeky enjoyment and technical flair, it suggests primitivism, exoticism, battle sounds, and what seemed like ambulance sirens at the end. What else do you need after a battle?
His setting of Aisling Gheal creates a beautifully scored and harmonically coloured backdrop to the song; and Grá agus Bás is nothing less than a transmutation of traditional style, with Ó Lionáird's beautiful singing woven into sounds imbued with harmonic overtones.No wonder this piece made such an impact when it was played in the USA earlier this year. It is deeply expressive, and shows that this ensemble can caress just as effectively as it can crash. - Martin Adams Irish Times Oct 07
Crash & Dennehy in NY
Wednesday 28 March, 2007
From the New York Times:
“a magnificently energetic, wildly cacophonous vocal work”
“the Irish new-music band that plays with the energy and spirit of a rock group”
“Iarla
O Lionaird sang the Gaelic text with simplicity and directness in a
plaintive folk style, and the ensemble — amplified strings, woodwinds,
brass, percussion and electric guitar, with Alan Pierson conducting —
gave it a powerful account”
(IR)RATIONAL
Thursday 9 November, 2006
"The satisfying programme, including three of [Tenney's] central pieces, ranged from austere and demanding, to riotous and quirky."
"Critical Band... Its a pattern to observe, rather than music to listen to - but incredibly interesting, simple yet inspired, and demanding."
Alan O'Riordan, Irish Examiner, 14th Nov 06
Dublin Fringe Festival 2004
Sunday 10 October, 2004
“First honour in presenting a new work fell to the Crash Ensemble, premiering Kevin Volans’ 1000 Bars for violin, cello and piano duet… This was a quirky and consistently amusing piece, and the playing communicated it with meticulous care.” – The Irish Times
Gaudeamus Music Week
Monday 6 to Sunday 12 September, 2004
“Most spectacular was Junk Box Fraud by Donnacha Dennehy, in which two singers, two pianos and two winds made a brash sweep from prickling dissonant music to barking major sounds. The accompanying film had a Greenaway-ish allure.” – Frits van der waa De Volkskrant
Crash 2003 Festival
Wednesday 3 December, 2003
The Irish Times (Review of the Year) 16 December, 2003
The Crash Ensemble continues to explore the wilder shores and is without doubt the healthiest contemporary ensemble in this country, with commissions, tours (Denmark, Sweden and England this year) and festivals (the latest just before Christmas) that set Irish music in an international context. …everything is done with iconoclastic confidence and vigour.
John Field Room, 1999
Sunday 26 September, 1999
“The Crash Ensemble has established something of a reputation not just for selling out their concerts, but for having to turn people away on the night. The group’s first appearance in the John Field Room on Sunday ran true to form.” – The Irish Times
“Accomodating mew music ensemble Crash helps the NCH deflect accusations of musical museum status. The transition worked well, with the availabile space – including staircase and balcony – uniquely exploited. A full house heard well-mixed instrumental sonorities in Michael Gordon’s pulsing Yo! Shakespeare, the soundless bow-swiping of Isak Goldschneider’s Four Eyes, multifarious vocal agility in Stripsody by Cathy Berberian and finely blended clarinet playing in Stockhausen’s Knabbenduett. The engaging imaginative display of Donnacha Dennehy’s Junk Box Fraud secured, as previously, the warmest reception.” – Michael Dungan, The Evening Herald
Samuel Beckett Theatre, 23 Oct '97
Thursday 23 October, 1997
“October saw the launch of the Crash Ensemble, a contemporary music group which had to turn people away from its sold-out first gig. With really exciting programming […], this is a group to watch out for.” – Michael Dervan, The Irish Times