Release Date: 11 November 2013
Label: Louth Contemporary Music
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 0091037681379
Description
Dublin's historic St Werburgh's Church played host to a curious gathering of Irish musical greats on a frosty night in January 2013: fiddle player Zoë Conway, harpist Siobhan Armstrong, bodhran player Robbie Harris and an all-star chamber choir, the EQ Singers, all under the musical guidance of conductor Eamonn Dougan. And then there was Sean O Riada: the composer from Cork, who died aged only 40 in 1971, made his presence felt in spirit if not in body, for here his work was heard re-wrought, re-inspired, re-imagined - and expertly recorded for this CD.
The occasion, part of Temple Bar TradFest, was the performance of a new arrangement of O Riada's famous Mass, composed originally for the choir that he established in Cúil Aodha, County Cork. Here O Riada's work was respun by the, perhaps unlikely, hands of Uzbek composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky. And yet as the first notes of the 'Iontroid' settle, it becomes apparent that the link from Tashkent to Cúil Aodha is not as incongruous as it might seem - Yanov-Yanovsky may be of a different time and place to O Riada, but his musical sensibility and sensitivity to the material resonates with the Corkman in a way that is uncanny.
Now released by Louth Contemporary Music Society, an organisation that has energised music in Ireland with its ambitious programming, O Riada Re-Imagined is an exemplar of the continuing tradition across musical history of assimilation, re-invention, tribute and re-interpretation. And like the best adaptations, Yanov-Yanovsky's take on O Riada's important work succeeds in being a respectful, indeed affectionate, effort, without being tame or over-deferential. Moving swiftly from ecstatic moments of release to tender, tranquil writing, Yanov-Yanovsky expresses O Riada's vision in an original way for a contemporary audience.
Personnel: EQ Singers, Eamonn Dougan (conductor), Zoë Conway (fiddle), Siobhan Armstrong (harp), Robbie Harris (bodhran)
Tracklisting
Linda Catlin Smith
Hélène Fauchère, Carol Robinson, Nathalie Chabot
Carducci Quartet & Crash Ensemble
The Hilliard Ensemble, EQ Ensemble, Elisaveta Blumina
A Place Between
Trio Mediaeval, Garth Knox, Agnes Vesterman & Sylvain Lemetre
The Carducci Quartet, Patricia Rozario, Michael McHale & Dublin Guitar Quartet
Ivan Monighetti, The Hilliard Ensemble, Dublin Guitar Quartet
Various Artists
St Agnes Fountain
Will & James Ragar
Subway to Sally
The Albion Christmas Band
Kuljit Bhamra & Becky Price
Gjermund Larsen Trio
Berit Opheim
