Review: THE HUNGER at Merkin Concert Hall Sept 19t

An interesting work was presented Thursday night at Merkin Concert Hall by the modern music group ALARM WILL SOUND.

The Great Irish Famine of 1845-52 is something the Irish would like to forget and something about which Americans should know more. Approximately one million people died during the so-called "potato famine", mainly due to an indifferent British government more interested in promulgating a "laissez-faire" attitude toward trade, resulting in healthy exports from wealthy farms and a starving populace.

This tragedy was beautifully related in THE HUNGER, a work that the composer Donnacha Dennehy calls a "docu-cantata". It was scored for two voices, one male, one female, and a group of instrumentalists, primarily strings, winds and percussion.

During the famine, an American female activist, Asanath Nicholson, traveled to Ireland and witnessed firsthand the misery that the Irish endured and documented it in THE ANNALS OF THE FAMINE IN IRELAND. This musical work uses that as a starting point.

Two singers take the roles of Asanath and an Irishman, meant to represent the populace. After traveling many miles with a dying child on his back, the man is told by a magistrate that a food voucher that he is seeking will not be available until the following week and to return at that time.

The man has aleady lost is wife to starvation. The child eventually succumbs, leaving his father delirious. There are fragments of Irish-tinged melody, more often accompanying the father than the soprano, Asanath, whose musical lines act as commentary. The two singers, Katherine Manley as Asanath Nicholson and Iarla O'Lionaird as the Irishman, worked hard to convey the strong feelings of both complex characters.

The small orchestra was beautifully conducted by Alan Pierson, the artistic director of ALARM WILL SOUND. THE HUNGER was scaled down from a longer version which include commentary and visuals. It had performances at BAM and in Ireland. It is an interesting piece performed last night with great feeling by a dedicated ensemble.

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