Search - Toirdealbhach O Cearbhallain, Andrew Lawrence-King, The Harp Consort :: Carolan's Harp

A delicate fusion of classical and folk timbres

Brianna Neal | USA | 09/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), a blind, itinerant harper from Baroque-era Ireland, is noted for his enduring compositions, which combine the best of continental Baroque sensibilities with the traditional music of his native land. In "O'Carolan's Harp," noted early music artist Andrew Lawrence King and his Harp Consort offer a graceful, nuanced interpretation of that fusion of elements. Sparkling metal-strung Irish harps join with violins and viols, citterns and gitterns, flutes, bagpipes and occasional drums to produce a glittering period sound tending towards the pensive or quietly mournful, but periodically erupting into bouyant joy. For this recording, The Harp Consort comprises no less than thirteen musicians, including King on harps, David Douglass on violin, Paul O'Dette on theorbo, cittern and guitar, Pedro Estevan on percussion, Belinda Sykes on shawm and bagpipes, and singers Caitriona O'Leary and Nigel Rogers. Other gentle interpretations of O'Carolan's music include Narada's compilation albums: "Celtic Treasure" I and II. For more early music by Andrew Lawrence King and The Harp Consort, try the ebulliently spicey "Spanish Dances" and "Missa Mexicana," or the modal medieval beauty of "Miracles of Notre-Dame."

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