Mary Gordon – National Concert Hall – Review by Frank L.

Libretto by Marina Carr and music by Brian Irvine and Neil Martin

Mary Gordon is the third major orchestral work commissioned by Wicklow County Council through its Arts Office in recent years. It was performed in the National Concert Hall with Fergus Sheil conducting the RTE National Symphony Orchestra together with the choirs of West Wicklow Voices, the Bray Choral Society, the Wicklow Choral Society, Holy Rosary National School Wicklow Town and Get Vocal.

The site of the story which is outlined to the audience by a narrator (Sean McGinley) is the valley near Blessington, County Wicklow which existed prior to the creation of the Poulaphouca reservoir. The valley had its own community who lived, worked, loved and died there before it was flooded. The exhumation of the cemetery in order to facilitate the reservoir brings to light a life which had been erased. That life was that of Mary Gordon and the time was 1916.

She was an orphan and a bastard, a serving girl in the household of Mrs. Quinn.  She was also strikingly good looking. Joshua Burns, who came from comparative affluence, is smitten by her and the community is appalled by such a possible union.

Their attitude is personified by Mary’s employer Mrs. Quinn whose views are expressed by the adult Choir:

“Now we are gentle people in this valley.

The kindest folk in the land

But this we cannot have

Joshua Burns walking out with Mary Gordon by the hand…”

The adult choirs are the ballast to this piece and they have a considerable amount of music to sing both together and as separate choirs. The children’s choir have two substantial choruses which they sing from the front of the stage.  Mary Gordon (Sarah Power) and Joshua Burns (Gerard Schneider) have a collection of duets and arias which they delivered with a commitment in line with their role as lovers. But the central “motto” or “anthem” in this piece was the moral rectitude of the “gentle people” epitomised in the opening and closing overture and epilogue sung by a member of the children’s choir:

“There is an old saying we swear by round here

A saying of great renown

Our motto, our anthem, we wear it like a shield

Always, you must always cut down

The tallest flower in every field”.

The entire ninety minutes made for a musical experience of real grip. Wicklow County Council and its Arts Office were ambitious in commissioning “Mary Gordon” and their ambition was rewarded in the National Concert Hall. So much so that “Mary Gordon” deserves to be heard again.

Programme information –

Fergus Sheil, conductor
Sarah Power, soprano
Gerard Schneider, tenor
Seán McGinley, narrator

Text by Marina Carr
Music by Brian Irvine and Neil Martin

Commissioned through the Per Cent for Art Scheme, presented as part of Wicklow County Council’s Ireland 2016 Programme, supported by Ireland 2016, Music Generation Wicklow and Age and Opportunity