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Deirdre Gribbin gained prominence through her opera Hey Persephone! given at the 1998 Almeida Festival and among the few recent stage works with real musical and dramatic instinct. How to make the Water Sound opens in the upper reaches of violin and cello with melodic and rhythmic definition gradually coming into focus. A sequence of hushes piano chords leads into the pensive final section, the viol-like intertwining of strings a poetic recollection of the opening. The sound of water is evoked but never imitated.
February 2000 Gramophone
Richard Whitehouse
St Anne and St Agnus City of London
I caught a concert on Monday in which the fine Kungsbacka Trio played a piece by the young Belfast-born composer Deirdre Gribbin. It was compelling, beginning and ending in the cries and whispers of string harmonics, but budding in the middle into a Celtic-nuanced melody of infinite sadness and beauty. I emerged into the roar of Central London, a sadder and wiser man.
July 13 2002 The Times
Richard Morrison
