I have enjoyed working with Eamon Quinn and the Louth Contemporary Music Society and, for some time, he and I have thought of doing something related to the times that the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein spent in Ireland, usually in isolation and often in remote locations. After mulling over various options we agreed on the idea of setting fragmentary texts, in the manner of one of his major works the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, in collaboration with the Irish writer Vincent Woods, who intersperses Wittgenstein with lines of his own.

Performers

Juliet Fraser, soprano,

Silvija Scerbaviciute, flute

The Esposito String Quartet

The work is dedicated to Eamon Quinn, and is also dedicated to the memory of Maurice O’Connor (“Con”) Drury (1907-1976), Wittgenstein’s former student and lifelong friend.