Efferent Verb Team:

Meet Anselm McDonnell, the winner of Voices, Vol. I, a talented composer hailing from Belfast, Northern Ireland. A versatile musician, Anselm wears many different hats within the music industry. Not only does he compose his own music, he also teaches composition and music theory at various levels, from upper secondary education to post-graduate studies. Passionate about music engraving and preparing scores for print, Anselm collaborates with other freelance composers to typeset their music pieces, or equips them with the skills necessary to create contemporary notation in specialized software, such as Sibelius and Dorico. Furthermore, he works as an engraver for MusiquityEdutech Ltd, a Mumbai-based company that publishes educational music with a focus on Indian repertoire, including Hindustani, Carnatic, and Bollywood music. An accomplished musician, Anselm is a proficient classical and electric guitarist as well.

Interviewer: What primary inspirations and ideas have led you to collaborate with such a diverse range of professionals, such as lighting designers, theologians, and actors, in the creation of your compositions?

One of the things I most love about working in the arts is the collaborative and social aspect of gathering a group of creative people and working on ideas together. There’s a powerful moment when working with artists in different (or similar!) mediums when everything clicks and becomes more than the sum of its parts.

Interviewer: Your compositions have been characterized as ‘abrasive and compelling’ and ‘bristling with energy’. Do you believe these descriptions accurately reflect the nature of your creative work, or are there other descriptions you would prefer to characterize your music?

Anselm: I feel these are pretty accurate depictions of my music! I have always been drawn to art that is full of vibrancy and energy. If I would add anything to these characterisations, it’s that I believe my music is abrasive because it juxtaposes moments of musical extremity and noise with soft lyrical moments. This polarity between moods is a theme that is ubiquitous in my compositions, and I feel that tension is both what draws an audience in and conveys the sense of narrative drama that is present.

Interviewer: Which aspect of your work as an award-winning guitarist do you find most valuable to your overall creative process, and how does it complement your compositional skills?

Anselm: Obviously, it helps a lot when writing guitar music, which is one of those instruments that is tricky to write for if you’re not a performer. In a wider sense though I believe it is vital for a composer to relate to both the physicality of instruments and the act of performance. It complements my compositional skills most by helping me empathise with the performer, especially as my music can be quite technically difficult, and the fact that I know what it’s like to work on difficult passages and then perform them on stage helps keep me grounded and writing with the performer in mind. I don’t only think about what it sounds like; I ask, “what does it feel like to play this?”

Interviewer: How do you believe your Irish/Welsh heritage has influenced your musical style and approach, particularly considering the rich cultural history and traditions of both Ireland and Wales?

Anselm: This is a tricky question to answer for two reasons. Firstly, it’s difficult to know what’s influencing you when you are the one being influenced, and an outside observer may be able to more accurately or without bias see that impact. The second is that while both Ireland and Wales have rich cultural histories, they have relatively young contemporary classical scenes. There aren’t really ‘schools of thought’ in composition, and it’s not possible to define an Irish or Welsh ‘sound’ in the way that some other more established centres of new music have zeitgeists for composers to follow or rebel against.My heritage has a hugely significant impact on my music, not in its style or any specific aural features that can be traced to folk traditions, but more in its attitude and approach. Both these nations, particularly Ireland, are still coming to terms with centuries of colonialism and its impact on stamping out aspects of culture such as language. It seems to me that there is a lot of music being composed in Wales and Ireland which has our cultural identity and place at its forefront, but we are still grappling with the questions of what it means to be Welsh, what it means to be Irish. When heritage and identity appear in my compositions, which they often do, it is often with a sense of questioning.

Interviewer: What inspired you to compose the choral piece “Hinneni,” and how did it feel to have it commercially released alongside the works of Sir James MacMillan on the CD “Annunciations”?

Anselm: Carrying on from the topic of identity, I’m a Christian, and that has had even more of an impact on my work than any aspects of Welshness or Irishness. I’ve drawn extensively on passages or themes from the Bible as inspiration, although like the French composer Messiaen, I don’t write liturgically and eschew the term “sacred music”. Hinneni is Hebrew for “here I am” and is a response commonly given by those who received a spoken word from God in the Bible, indicating their willingness to hear and act on the given message. The piece was commissioned by the St. Salvators’ Chapel Choir in St. Andrews (Scotland) for a project that paired theologians with musicians. My partner on the project was Canadian theologian Margaret McKerron and she was focusing on the Garden of Eden and the annunciations (words from God) to Adam and Eve, which my composition then explores. Margaret and I collaborated to write the poem to be set, drawing from themes and structural devices Margaret had analysed in the Hebrew text. Sir James MacMillan is a leading figure worldwide in choral music, and it was a great honour to be asked to contribute to a CD which focused on his work and composers he has inspired and influenced.

Interviewer: Your large chamber work “Engines of Babel” received an honorable mention in the Thailand Arts and Music Symposium 2019. Could you describe the inspiration and creative process behind this piece?

Anselm: Engines of Babel is another Genesis-themed piece, drawing on a passage from the Bible that has always struck me with its vividness. This one was commissioned by Ireland’s Crash Ensemble andits focus is more chaotic: it depicts the Tower of Babel, the doomed industrial project humanity embarked on to raise themselves up into the heavens and become gods. The woodblock takes on the role of a taskmaster calling the workforce to action, its insistent ostinato heard in various forms throughout the piece. This was the first piece where I was really let loose on a barrage of percussion instruments, and I was working with musicians who actively encouraged me to push into the wildness of my ideas.It resulted in a kind of frenzied dervish where the music races along hissing and shrieking until it collapses in on itself and the husk of its ideas are scattered to the wind. Because so much of the piece is pitchless noise I worked extensively in the DAW Logic as well as on paper and in Sibelius. This was a new creative process for me, but one I’ve used a lot since, as I find a variety of tools gives me fresh perspectives on musical ideas.

Interviewer: You have worked with a variety of ensembles and soloists throughout your career. How do the specific musicians and their unique strengths help shape the compositions you create for them?

Anselm: My compositions are always quite personal, in that they’re written for specific musicians, in fact across my whole output I only have a handful of pieces that were composed without a specific person or ensemble in mind. I believe this comes from working a lot with singers, as each voice has such a unique sound, tessitura, and colour. As a result, I became used to my compositional process being an ongoing conversation with the performer and this has passed into my instrumental work. I also love to artistically challenge myself and utilize unusual ensemble combinations and instruments. This often necessitates a close collaboration with the musicians as I must learn a lot about the instrument and its techniques during the writing process. I always want to know what a performer enjoys playing, what they find challenges them, and what kind of repertoire they are most at home with. The answers to these questions shape the initial formation of my ideas, so I would say that the compositions I create are significantly shaped by the musicians I write for.

Interviewer: Your debut double-disc album, Light of Shore, was described as “technically demanding, but extremely rewarding.” Can you tell us more about the creative challenges and experiences you encountered while working on this album, and what made it such a rewarding project for you?

Anselm: The main challenge of this album was logistical. Originally, I intended to release an album of my choral music and had pieces selected and plans in place for that. Then the pandemic and several lockdowns hit, and it became nearly impossible to even get a single musician into a recording studio. The kind of commissions I was getting also changed completely: I ended up writing lots of duo and solo pieces, reflective of the fact that we were so isolated from each other. So, the album completely shifted focus to a collection of my works for solo instruments. For several of the recordings, I also couldn’t be present for as travel was restricted, which meant that I worked with musicians who I trusted implicitly, knowing that the recording would be entirely in their hands. The album was recorded wherever musicians were located: America, Spain, Ireland, Wales and I was amazed at the results, even though it didn’t seem like the ideal recording situation. One of the most rewarding elements of the project was looking back over my output of solo instruments and seeing threads that have developed through my writing. It’s fascinating to look back and see features of your compositional voice emerging across several years.

Interviewer: With your forthcoming second album, Kraina, focusing on works for voice, what aspects of vocal compositions are you exploring or emphasizing in these new pieces, and how have the collaborations with ACNI and the PRS Foundation influenced the development of the album?

Anselm: Kraina (Old Polish for land, edge, or border) is a collection of pieces gathered around the theme of home and displacement. The word Kraina shares its linguistic origins with the etymological roots of the name Ukraine, which, given the events of the past year, seems prescient, although my choosing of the name was coincidental. The concept began with a song cycle commissioned by Irish soprano Rebecca Murphy on the theme of the Polish diaspora to Northern Ireland, specifically the period during the turbulent and violent turmoil of The Troubles. Belfast-based author Aleksandra Łojek selected various texts for the cycle from contemporary and historical Polish poets, and these songs form the crux of the album.

Displacement and a complicated relationship with the concept of home is a very resonant theme in Ireland. It is estimated that between 80-100 million people of Irish heritage live outside of Ireland (twenty times Ireland’s population of 5 million). Three of the pieces on the album explore home through an Irish lens, with poetry by Andrew Roycroft, Leland Bardwell, and Euan Tait. The remaining piece, Her Name is Sorrow, with text by Boston poet Anna A. Friedrich, reflects on our destructive tendencies towards home from a global perspective.

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland have been a dedicated supporter of my work, with their contributions and encouragement enabling me to create several projects over the past few years, including this new album. I’m grateful to them and also the PRS Foundation, who have funded several ensembles who commissioned me, and now are funding me directly for this project. Their support has enabled the scale and quality of the album.

Do get in touch if you are interested in collaborating. I’m particularly interested in collaborations involving visual elements alongside music, unique ensemble lineups, and mixing electronics with acoustic instruments.

Contact:

Website: https://www.anselmguitar.co.uk/

Email: anselm902@gmail.com

Debut album Light of Shore https://anselmmcdonnell.bandcamp.com/releases