Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Nonesuch debut, Grá agus Bás, was released last week. The album includes the title piece, which translates as Love and Death and was inspired by sean-nós "old style" Irish vocal music, as well as the composer’s song cycle That the Night Come, comprising six settings of poems by W.B. Yeats. The Dublin–based Crash Ensemble performs both works, conducted by Alan Pierson. Irish singer Iarla O’Lionáird is the soloist for Grá agus Bás; Dawn Upshaw is featured on That the Night Come.

Dennehy is the subject of a feature article in the Irish Times. The composer spoke with Times writer Sinéad Gleeson about his music, which, writes Gleeson, "is predicated on classical training, but very much a hybrid of new classical and experimental."

In the article, Dennehy discusses his early influences, both classical and otherwise, from The Smiths to Steve Reich, the latter of whom opened up a “whole new world"; the importance of Crash Ensemble in the development of his work and that of other composers; and the inspiration for incorporating sean-nós and Yeats into the works heard on the new album.

Read the complete article at irishtimes.com.

To pick up a copy of Grá agus Bás, head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the complete album at checkout.