Gerald Barry

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Gerald Barry (born April 28, 1952) is an Irish composer.

Born in Clarecastle, County Clare, Republic of Ireland, he studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel. His music is notable for its inherent use of real thematic development. Although , paradoxically, Barry's music shifts between blocks of thematic material, often without any reason or preparation. There is an element of humour in his music, using titles such as '_____' and 'Bob', ending in unexpected places and shifting from avant-garde styles to rhythms reminiscent of Irish folk music. His operatic style seems to be modelled on that of G.F. Handel and his theatrical gestures often embrace sexual and erotic themes in grotesque or bombastic ways. Quite often the structure of Gerald Barry's music happens at a medium-high level, such that long streams of similar durations and dynamics switch suddenly to a different type as though 'changing gear', with the pathos being in the contrast and in the micro-resemblances of harmonic/melodic material across the boundaries of these contrasting regions. Like Handel and Mozart he often conceives of material independently of its instrumental medium, recycling ideas from piece to piece as in the reworking of "Triorchic Blues" from a violin to piano piece. He is a particular specialist in writing for the bass voice; see "The Conquest of Ireland' and 'Beethoven' - his latest work setting some of the letters of Beethoven to his 'Immortal beloved'. Barry's word-settings are particular and could be described as somewhat revolutionary in gesture.

His works include:

[edit] Operas

The Intelligence Park (1990)
The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit, originally written for television (1991-2)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (2005) to the play by Fassbinder (also, independently, the basis of a film of the same name)

[edit] Selected other works

The Conquest of Ireland
The Eternal Recurrence, a setting of Nietzsche for voice and orchestra
Wiener Blut
Dead March
Piano Quartet 1 and 2 (for the Ives Ensemble)
Chevaux de Frise
White Bird Featherless (for the Siobhan Davies ballet company, broadcast on BBC television in 1995)

The operas and much of the chamber music have been recorded and distributed by NMC records in the UK and Ireland.