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Loudest Whisper, accompanied by a 100-strong choir, a string quarter and a narrator, perform to a sold-out crowd in Germany.

Fresh from the band’s sell-out concerts in Germany, Loudest Whisper’s Brian O’Reilly sat down with The Avondhu this week to discuss the reception to ‘The Children of Lir’, Germany’s appreciation of music, and moving the concerts forward – both locally and globally. In this first part – Brian talks capacity venues, standing ovations, and that old chestnut, German efficiency.

“It could not have been better,” said Brian on the concerts in Speyer, Weinheim and Heidelberg last month. “It was an absolutely uplifting and spiritual experience in one way, when you hear 100 voices, a string quartet and 10 musicians playing your music. And we had three sell-out concerts, we had standing ovations – the people clapped each evening for 10 minutes after the concert and wanted more.”

The performance of Brian’s creation ‘The Children of Lir’ is certainly unique. The combination of Loudest Whisper with a 100-strong choirclad in medieval dress, a string quartet and a narrator, makes for a visually striking and vocally broad concert.

Unique too, is the structure of each performance. Rather than individual songs interspersed with applause, the only breaks in the musical piece come at the interval and at the conclusion.

“The concert is divided in two with a break in the middle. What’s unusual about it is that once it starts, it’s like a continuous piece of music; we play the overture, then this other drone music comes in, then we play, then the narrator talks, then we sing and it goes on like that. So the audience is just zoomed in and when it comes to the break – bang! – they burst into applause, and it’s the same at the very end.”

Irish music in Germany has long been appreciated. The Dubliners, for instance, were well known for performing there throughout their long career – performing there as recently as 2013.

The reception that Loudest Whisper and ‘The Children of Lir’ received, Brian said was 'second-to-none'.

“German audiences really listen to what you do, will accept it and they will do their own analysis of whether they liked it or not and they’re great to appreciate. They love Irish music – in a wide context, while they love the Dubiners and the Chieftains and Irish ballads, they appreciate Irish music right across the board.

“They loved the story itself. There were a lot of families in the audience, some people were crying. I found it very emotional myself – the songs by the 100 voices were terrific. And that’s what we will aspire to in Ireland and all around Europe if we start doing this.

“Someone said to me, It’s not every day an Irish composer's work is performed by 100 voices in Germany so I suppose that in itself is a great achievement. The fact that is was a great success, even more so.”

The concerts weren't just a commercial success, for as many as nine German media outlets penned positive reviews of the three performances.

Playing three concerts, in three days, in three different towns and cities can be quite a logistical challenge, all the more considering the number of performers ‘The Children of Lir’ concerts have.

Prior to jetting off, Brian and indeed his brother Paud, expressed their apprehension in ensuring everything would run smoothly. This is Germany, after all.

“It worked so well I was surprised, but this again goes back to German efficiency, and they were so organised. Before each concert they could have 25 or 30 people on stage – setting up gear, getting everything ready, everything was very well organised.

"I was a bit worried about the three different venues; it just meant we had to be in the theatres early. The theatres were all within 30km of each other. The first concert we did, we had a big rehearsal there the day before with the choir and with everyone else involved. That was great and once we got going it was just excellent," Brian enthused.

All in all, according to Brian, the concerts in Germany ‘just proved to us that this particular project has potential all over Europe, and all over the world’.

See next week’s paper for Part Two, in which Brian talks future plans for ‘The Children of Lir’, the potential for tourism boards to get involved in the project, and his hopes to contribute to the 1916 Rising commemorations next year.

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