Culture That Made Me: Music maestro David Brophy picks his touchstones

Irish Examiner

04-05-2025

David Brophy, 53, grew up in Santry, Co Dublin. In 2007, he was appointed principal conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras at major international events, including Queen Elizabeth II's state visit to Ireland in 2011. He was made principal conductor with Cologne's WDR Funkhaus orchestra in 2024. He will conduct the Irish Chamber Orchestra for A Midsummer Night's Dream, May 27-June 2, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, Lismore Castle, Co Waterford. See: www.blackwatervalleyopera.ie.
Brothers in Arms
I remember aged 13 or 14 buying Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms. The lyrics are great. There's outstanding hooks and guitar riffs on it. I can still hear that opening guitar riff on Money for Nothing, with those parallel fifths, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. A world opened up to me – it was music you didn't necessarily hear on Top of the Pops. It's well put together – all the tracks lead from one into the other. It was the first album I got that made me listen to music differently. It's amazing.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons
I didn't do classical music at school. The first classical music thing I bought was aged 17. I stumbled across Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I listened to that so much the spool on the tape eventually gobbled itself up. They were the days when music was perishable. Riffing and the notion of a small group of notes that becomes arresting finds its beginnings with Vivaldi's Four Seasons. There's a lot of music in it that has been used by rock musicians over the years.
Jon Lord
Great musicians I've worked with over the years have listened to lots of different types of music. I worked with Jon Lord at the RTÉ Concert Orchestra many years ago. I remember having a drink with him after the gig, and we spent the whole evening sitting in the Shelbourne bar talking about Beethoven. He didn't wanna talk about everything else. He wasn't interested in talking about Deep Purple. I see music as a continuum. I don't see a huge difference between Vivaldi and Deep Purple.
The Shining
Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining
The music in The Shining is amazing. Stanley Kubrick married music and tension in a scene in a way no other director has done. That scene where Shelley Duvall's character comes down the stairs – and Jack Nicholson has been writing whatever novel he's been writing – and she sees written across all the pages, 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' All that music you hear in the background is from Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. I love that film – the lighting, the cinematography. The acting is unreal. All the scenes are the perfect length. There's a look off it. It's cleverly done. It's one of those films I know inside out.
Woody Allen
Years ago, I was a big Woody Allen fan. I was first attracted to his films because he's the underdog. I identified with him. I was bullied badly at school and have all my scars that we all have from school. That dry New York wit, the droll underdog sense of humour made me laugh all the time. I didn't relate to swashbucklers in movies, but I related to Woody Allen as a teenager.
Enda Walsh
Mikel Murfi, Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea during a photoshoot for Ballyturk.
I'm a big Enda Walsh fan. I remember in particular seeing Ballyturk with Stephen Rea, Cillian Murphy and Mikel Murfi, three legends on stage. I felt reassured leaving it because I felt, oh, somebody else sees the world like me. I find the world of his plays completely normal. He taps into the deep psychosis we walk around with all day long. Stephen Rea sang in the play. His mic came down, like one of those microphones that come down in boxing arenas. I spoke to Stephen afterwards, and he goes, 'Oh, Brophy, if I'd known you were there, I'd never have sung.'
Benjamin Britten
I did a foundation course in Dublin College of Music back in the late 1980s. I got exposed to Benjamin Britten. He was seen as being scary, very modern music. I remember buying his Sinfonia da Requiem and his Cello Symphony, which blew my mind. It wasn't atonal, but it was weird music, unlike music I'd heard before, using an orchestra with all the instruments. I don't know why somebody who had a diet of chart music and a bit of Vivaldi suddenly jumped into Benjamin Britten, that's quite a leap, but I became fascinated by his music.
Under the Moon
I started working with traditional musicians, and delving into the world of trad, in my mid- to late-twenties. I bought Under the Moon by Martin Hayes with Steve Cooney. I remember listening to it and pennies dropping, thinking there's a circle here between all the baroque music I'd be listening to and traditional Irish music. It's a seminal album for me, still a go-to. It's fantastic.
Mise Éire
Seán Ó Riada saw himself taking central European avant garde music to Ireland and exploring that world. He did something embryonic but simple, like that opening chord in the strings, which is just tremolo. Everyone's moving their bow very fast. That creates huge expectations straightaway. Then you get the opening horn solo on Roisín Dubh. It's very clever, very simple. He managed to distill traditional elements and put them in an orchestra context. He took trad – music from an oral tradition, domestic music, played in your house by your family, or played in the local pub – and he made it cinematic. That's the genius of it. He gave it a brand new canvas.
BB King
I went to see U2 on their Lovetown Tour. They played at Dublin's Point Depot in late December 1989. I was blown away by BB King and his band, who supported them, that night. At the time, I didn't realise the legend that BB King was. He had all these amazing jazz/blues musicians from America in his band, there playing at the Point. My jaw hit the ground.. It was unreal. I'll never forget the sheer sense of virtuosity.
Grigory Sokolov
Around the same time, I went to Dublin's Concert Hall to see the great Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov. He played music by Rameau, an eighteenth-century French composer. On the grand piano there are three pedals. The left pedal is called 'the una corda pedal', the softer pedal. He used that pedal in a way I've never heard in my life. The colours he got from the piano – I was completely mesmerised. One of the best concerts I was ever at.
Simon Rattle
I saw the English conductor Simon Rattle conduct in Dublin last September. He was on tour with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Germany. The magic is in what he doesn't do. He knows exactly what is the minimum he needs to do with the orchestra. Like, if you look at Usain Bolt's cheeks when he runs, his face is unbelievably relaxed. That sense of being able to let go to create something amazing is what Rattle has. The best people don't try. They just do. They've got that flow.
Read More
Matt Cranitch takes a bow for lifetime of musical achievement