Born in Tipperary in southern Ireland, Frank Corcoran is a naturally gifted musician. After studies in Dublin, he became a composition pupil of Boris Blacher in Berlin. Professor of composition and theory in Hamburg since 1983, he has received widespread acclaim. Included in his orchestral catalogue are four very contrasting symphonies, Corcoran continually seeking new tonal dimensions while challenging the entrenched concepts of musical form. The Second and Third Symphonies, from 1981 and 1994, are scored for conventionally sized symphony orchestra and explore the notion of randomness against musical order. The Fourth Symphony, composed in 1996, is an exercise in material constructed and destructed to form dramatic images.