By James Dever jamesdever Bandcamp tylerdever Bandcamp jamesdevermusic SoundCloud jamzdenver Twitter.
Cover art by James Dever jamesdever Bandcamp tylerdever Bandcamp jamesdevermusic SoundCloud jamzdenver Twitter.
Released 6/6/2016.
Duration: 13:39.

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Read artist commentary.

Contributors:

• Conner Shaw (guitar)
• Breana Meyers (marimba)
• Ben Hornacek (bass)
• Joe Darpino (narration)
• Cathy Verbyla (narration)

Artist commentary:

James Dever:

New Irish Stew is a graphic score written in early 2016 and premiered in April of the same year. The piece is written for three indeterminate musicians and two narrators.

The score is written in a literal circle with no beginning or ending given. It is up to the performers to decide where to start, when to end, what tempo, and if they wish, when to improvise.

Surrounding the music is a slew of cherry picked quotes from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. The narrators can either be cued by the outer, melodic line, or free to choose when to quote each line. The other voices heard besides the two narrators are audience members who were given specific quotes and told to say them whenever they wanted.

The premiere was performed at the University of Northern Colorado by guitarist Conner Shaw, marimbist Breana Meyers, bassist Ben Hornacek, and narration by Joe Darpino and Cathy Verbyla.