8:30pm.
Complete lineup
Darragh Morgan - violin
Mary Dullea - piano
For John Cage by Morton Feldman
About this performance ;
Violinist Darragh Morgan, has been performing Morton Feldman's For John Cage internationally for over 20 years and his celebrated album release on Diatribe Records in 2020 with pianist John Tilbury, renowned as a peerless interpreter of Feldman's piano music, has garnered reviews including:
'The actual performance has a fascinating tension.... when it's over you're not changed, exactly, but you're a sightly different person just the same.' -The Wire
‘Fantastic precision, beautifully tender rapt concentration’ -BBC Radio 3 Record Review.
'Embedded in harmonic colour, with the finest sonic detail, the album is a feast.'
- Jari Kallio (Chamber Music Album of the Year)
Classical Music Recording of the Year
- Steve Smith, Night After Night
End of Year Recommended
- Jim O' Rourke
For this special Constellation performance Darragh is joined by his long-term pianist partner, Mary Dullea, also of '.....the virtuosic Fidelio Trio....' (Sunday Times).
This is a very rare opportunity, in his anniversary year, to hear and experience this late, long duration work of Feldman. The actual story of how Morton Feldman and John Cage first met has now become elevated to the status of legendary musical folklore. During a 1950 New York Philharmonic performance of Webern’s Symphony Op. 21, Feldman decided to leave the concert at the interval. In the lobby he met Cage. As Cage says, “we both walked out of a Philharmonic concert in which Webern had just been played, and we shared the desire not to hear anything else because we had been so deeply moved.” It was the beginning of a deep friendship that was to influence both their respective creative spirits. Morton Feldman became a friend, flatmate and student of John Cage. Feldman said of For John Cage “it’s a little piece for violin and piano but it doesn’t quit.” It exists as a plateau of existential sound, pianissimo with almost entirely still gestures throughout.
Darragh Morgan on approach to For John Cage :
I was first introduced to the music of Morton Feldman nearly 25 years ago by Paul Zukovsky who was then my musical mentor and who had premiered ‘For John Cage’. This close connection to Feldman’s art had a profound effect on me. I learnt much from my musical encounters with Zukofsky about Feldman’s use of mean-tone intonation and the obvious influence of this on the expressivity of his string writing, but it was only when I met pianist John Tilbury and had conversations with composers who knew Feldman personally – Chris Newman and Howard Skempton – that I felt I was really beginning to understand his musical personality. I was already experimenting with using a baroque bow in performances of certain music by Cage and Feldman. The ethereal tone these more curved and lighter/shorter bows can produce seemed the most natural tool for conveying the desired articulation, and also Feldman’s constant wish and marking in his late scores that every gesture should dissipate naturally with an upwards and downwards sotto voce expressive marking. I abstain from any use of vibrato as this hugely helps with my vision of the types of nuance and timbral purity this piece requires
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About the performers:
The leading Irish violinist of his generation’ Journal of Music, August 2025
Described by The Strad Magazine as ‘hugely impressive, he plays with seemingly effortless control’ Irish violinist Darragh Morgan is a renowned exponent of contemporary music. Darragh has appeared as a soloist at Aldeburgh Festival, Philips Collection Washington DC, Wiener Konzerthaus, Osterfestival Tirol, New Music Gathering USA and BBC Proms Chamber Music. His numerous concerto appearances with The Ulster Orchestra include the World Premiere of ‘Hymn of Dawn’ by Sir John Tavener which he also performed with Istanbul Symphony Orchestra. With National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, he has toured Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, recorded ‘Elastic Harmonic’ by Donnacha Dennehy for NMC Recordings and premiered Brian Irvine’s ‘A Mon Seul Desir’. With RTÉ Concert Orchestra and London Musici/Rambert Dance Company he has given over 40 performances of ‘Tabula Rasa’ by Arvo Pärt (including in the presence of the composer). Darragh gave the South African premiere of Barber’s Violin Concerto with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra. Other concerto appearances have included Kölner Kammerorchester and Johannesburg Philharmonic. He has collaborated closely with such distinguished musicians as Mary Dullea, Thomas Adès, Emmanuel Pahud, Joanna MacGregor, Julian Bliss, Nicholas Daniel, John Tilbury, Mícheál Ò Súilleabháin and Sacconi Quartet.
Darragh is founder member of ‘the virtuosic Fidelio Trio’ (Sunday Times). They were shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards Ensemble Prize and have appeared at prestigious venues including Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room Southbank Centre, Casa da Musica Porto, National Sawdust New York, Morrison Artist Series San Francisco, Andy Warhol Museum Pittsburgh, National Centre for Performing Arts Mumbai, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Les Jardins Musicaux Switzerland and Cheltenham Festival. Their collaborations include with actor Adrian Dunbar, writer Alexander McCall-Smith and poet Sinead Morrissey.
Darragh has been invited as Leader of London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, BCMG, Aurora Orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic, English Symphony Orchestra, Macau Orchestra, Les Siecles and is a current Director of European Union Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded over 75 chamber music and solo albums many of which have received Gramophone Album of the Year Award and the coveted Diapason d’Or.
www.darraghmorgan.com
Le Vieux Sourd is a piano piece of Ivesian wildness, brilliantly played here by Dullea’ The Guardian
As soloist and chamber musician, Irish pianist Mary Dullea leads a diverse performance career internationally. She has appeared at prestigious venues around the globe such as: Wigmore Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Hong Kong Chamber Music Society; cities including Singapore, Bangkok, Porto, Paris, Venice, Florence, Johannesburg, Harare, New York City, San Francisco and Boston; and at festivals including Beijing Modern Music Festival, Spitalfields, Cheltenham, St. Magnus, Huddersfield and TRANSIT (Leuven). Recent appearances include Dark Music Days Iceland, an extensive USA tour including National SawdustBrooklyn and Music on the Edge Pittsburgh, Cayman International Arts Festival and Little Missenden Festival. She is broadcast frequently on BBC Radio 3, RTÉ LyricFM and WQXR. Concerto appearances include RTÉ Concert Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland and KZN Philharmonic Orchestra. Mary’s CD releases feature on labels NMC, Delphian Records, Resonus Classics, Altarus, Col Legno, MNR, Naxos, Lorelt and Divine Art. Recent collaborations include a double CD release of John McLachlan’s solo piano output on Farpoint Recordings and with her piano trio, Fidelio Trio, a Gerald Barry portrait CD of premiere recordings on Mode Records and Chamber Music by Ernest Moeran on Resonus Classics which was Gramophone Magazine’s Editor’s and Critics’ Choice for 2022.
Fidelio Trio are passionate advocates for piano trio repertoire around the world. They were shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards Ensemble Prize and have been awarded Gramophone Magazine Editor’s Choice for several of their recordings. Constantly commissioning new works, composers with whom the Trio have worked closely include Anna Clyne, Donnacha Dennehy, Joe Cutler, Judith Weir, Piers Hellawell, Ann Cleare, Richard Causton, Kevin Volans, Linda Buckley and Gerald Barry to name but a few.
Mary is the curator of Soundings (a UK/Austrian collaborative music festival) at the Austrian Cultural Forum London since 2008. In 2014 she founded 'Chamber Music on Valentia' an annual chamber music festival in Co. Kerry, Ireland.
She is Director of Music Performance at Royal Holloway, University of London where she is also a Professor in Music.
www.marydullea.com
Listen to the album here
