IRISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
The Connemara Suite
Tayberry Records 7000
I often fulminate against classical composers and musicians trying to write or perform folk suites. It raises a question: Is the very attempt quixotic, or is that those who throw themselves into the task are not competent to execute it? More the latter, I think, though the very best at it—Davy Spillane and Bill Whelan—were folk artists before they scored suites. Whelan attracted critical acclaim for his 1992 Seville Suite and then took the world by storm with Riverdance in 1997. The latter work is both beloved and excoriated, though much of the bad press is due to dancer Michael Flatley’s outsized ego, not Whelan’s composition.
Whelan’s latest venture is more modest and less showy than Riverdance. He lives in Ireland’s wild western region of Connemara, and set his pen to an attempt at capturing the rhythms of it. To do this he connected traditional players such as Michelle Mulcahy (harp) and fiddlers Zoë Conway and Fionnuala Hunt with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The result is pieces that begin life as a concerto and end up as lilting and danceable folk tunes, though it must be said there is more of the former than the latter. The key to maximizing enjoyment of this album is to ignore its title. It cannot be said that Whelan truly inhabited Connemara in a more musical sense; frankly, some of the movements would have made just as much sense if they had been titled “Boise, Idaho.” But what Whelan has done is create a work that is interesting and appealing no matter what it’s supposed to be. And every now and then there’s just enough fire in the recital hall to make everything go jiggy.
The Connemara Suite
Tayberry Records 7000
I often fulminate against classical composers and musicians trying to write or perform folk suites. It raises a question: Is the very attempt quixotic, or is that those who throw themselves into the task are not competent to execute it? More the latter, I think, though the very best at it—Davy Spillane and Bill Whelan—were folk artists before they scored suites. Whelan attracted critical acclaim for his 1992 Seville Suite and then took the world by storm with Riverdance in 1997. The latter work is both beloved and excoriated, though much of the bad press is due to dancer Michael Flatley’s outsized ego, not Whelan’s composition.
Whelan’s latest venture is more modest and less showy than Riverdance. He lives in Ireland’s wild western region of Connemara, and set his pen to an attempt at capturing the rhythms of it. To do this he connected traditional players such as Michelle Mulcahy (harp) and fiddlers Zoë Conway and Fionnuala Hunt with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The result is pieces that begin life as a concerto and end up as lilting and danceable folk tunes, though it must be said there is more of the former than the latter. The key to maximizing enjoyment of this album is to ignore its title. It cannot be said that Whelan truly inhabited Connemara in a more musical sense; frankly, some of the movements would have made just as much sense if they had been titled “Boise, Idaho.” But what Whelan has done is create a work that is interesting and appealing no matter what it’s supposed to be. And every now and then there’s just enough fire in the recital hall to make everything go jiggy.
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