The Celtic Viol Vol 1

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THE CELTIC VIOL
The Celtic Viol Vol 1
Jordi Savall (treble viols) / Andrew Lawrence King (Irish harp and psalterium)

[ Alia Vox SACD / Hybrid SACD ]

Release Date: Tuesday 21 July 2009

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"The playing on this disc is simply beyond criticism, and it should hold great attraction for folk song enthusiasts, classical aficionados, and Celtic music buffs alike. This is crossover in the very best sense of the word."
(Five Stars AudAud.com)

Hybrid/SACD - playable on all compact disc players.

"Jordi Savall has finally turned his mind to Scottish and Celtic music which he first encountered in 1975, and has become increasingly enamored of ever since. Please bear in mind that this is not music as you might hear on a Chieftains album, though some of the tunes are the same. Most of these pieces only attainted written status at the end of the 1600s or later, and Savall approaches them all in the spirit of oral tradition, where the melodies were passed from generation to generation. Indeed, he freely admits in the excellent notes (and superb production, as usual) that for many of these works there is no known way of accompaniment or even of how to render the melodic lines. But using his musical instincts he has produced renditions in as caring and thoughtful a manner as possible, also taking into consideration the living performance practice of these works by other artists dating back to the earliest years of recording.

This SACD is divided pretty much equally between solo treble viol melodies and those with improvised and steadily supportive harp work by Andrew Lawrence-King, surely the most creative such musician in this sort of work alive today. You will not find a lot of rambunctious performances a la Fiona Ritchie's public radio program The Thistle and Shamrock. These are unadulterated, bare-bones readings of an important and underrated aspect of Celtic national heritage, true period practice if ever the word had any meaning at all. Much of the music comes across as meditative, subtly foot-tapping, and yet gloriously beauteous melodies that one can only imagine gracing the hearths of many an Irish or Scottish household over the last 500 years, with their remnants transported to many similar homes in olden North America as well.

The playing on this disc is simply beyond criticism, and it should hold great attraction for folk song enthusiasts, classical aficionados, and Celtic music buffs alike. This is crossover in the very best sense of the word."
(Five Stars AudAud.com)

Tracks:

1. The Musical Priest / Scotch Mary - Traditional Irish
2. Caledonia's Wail for Niel Gow - Simon Fraser
3. The Humours Of Scariff - Traditional Irish
4. Alistair MacAlastair - Nathaniel Gow
5. Tom Brigg's, Jig - Ryan's Mammoth
6. The Globby O, Jig - Ryan's Mammoth
7. Lord Moira's & Jinrikisha - Ryan's Mammoth
8. Sackow's (Jig) - Traditional Irish
9. Hard Is My Fate - Traditional Scottish
10.Chapel Keithack - William Marshall
11. Gudewife, Admit The Wanderer - Simon Fraser
12. Macpherson's Lament - James Macpherson
13. Tullochgorum - Traditional Scottish Reel
14. Pretty Peggy - Traditional Scottish/Irish
15. Twas within a furlong of Edinburgh Town - Henry
16. Màiri Bhàn Òg: Mary Young & Fair - Simon Fraser
17. Dowd's Reel - Traditional Irish
18. Lady Mary Hay's Scots Measure - Traditional
19. Carolan's Farewell - O'Carolan
20. Gusty's Frolics - Traditional
21. Emigrants Reel - Ryan's Mammoth
22. The Lamentations Of Owen Roe O'Neill - O'Carolan
23. Princess Beatrice - W.B. Laybourn
24. Prince Charlie's Last View Of Edinburg - Traditional Scottish
25. Trip It Upstairs (Single Jig) - Traditional Irish
26. Mrs. McPherson of Gibton - William Marshall
27. Tuttle's - Traditional Irish
28. Lament for the Death of his Second Wife - Niel Gow
29. The Gander in the Pratie Hole - Traditional Irish

Jordi Savall/Andrew Lawrence-King - The Musical Priest/Scotch Mary