Founded in 1997 by Donnacha Dennehy, Andrew Synott and Michael Seaver, Crash Ensemble have officially been pushing boundaries and exploring the possibilities of modern classical music for a quarter of a century. The Dublin-based collective have worked with an eclectic array of luminaries, including Steve Reich, Gavin Friday, Dawn Upshaw and more, and performed to audiences around the world.
Rather aptly, their 25th birthday celebration nods both to their home-grown and international ambitions. In 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, the ensemble commissioned 17 Irish and international composers, all from different stylistic backgrounds – electronica to folk to classical –, to write new works for two instruments. The point of the exercise, they claimed, was to create “an honest, human and emotive response for now and the future.” Each composer was asked to document their creative process with text and imagery, which was edited into a film that also incorporated video footage of duos from the ensemble performing the works.
The result is an understandably varied collection – although, considering the timing of their commission, there is a common thread to many of these pieces. Infused with an unsettled anxiety and a creeping malaise, standouts include Jonathan Nangle’s Sotto Voce, which uses guitar to create an otherworldly ambience; similarly, David Fennessy’s innovative JACK brilliantly utilises guitar as a percussive instrument, while the tremulous undercurrent on Stephen Shannon’s trombone- and percussion-based One Day makes for a satisfyingly eerie arrangement. Sebastian Adams’s Trombone, Transducer, Tam-Tam is more likely to divide listeners: its metallic, ghostly framework for trombone and percussion is certainly one of the more experimental compositions here, yet its post-apocalyptic clatter is offset by the playfulness of other pieces.
On some pieces, the limitations of two instruments indubitably feels a little restrictive. Mostly, however, these are fine examples of what can be done with a narrowly-defined palette and evidence of the ensemble’s skilled players. Anselm McDonnell’s cut-and-pasted use of news clips – Boris, Leo et al spouting soundbites like ‘public health’, ‘calm’ and ‘work from home’ – on the cello- and clarinet-based Cross Purposes is both abrasive and compelling. There are also moments of beauty amid the clamour and panic: Éna Brennan’s Runaway, for flute and violin, adds a lightness of touch to the tracklist, while Anna Mieke’s Groundwork, for cello and double bass, brings things to a tranquil conclusion.
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The 1 hour and 41 minute running time is certainly what you might call a “journey”; it’s a shame that the visual element has not yet been made available in conjunction with this release, in order to give listeners the full picture. Even so, [Reactions] is a fitting testament to an ensemble who have revelled in challenging their audience for a quarter-century.
