The Fair Hills of Éire: Irish Airs and Dances
David Quigley (piano)
rec. 2022, The Elgar Concert Hall, The Bramhall, University of Birmingham, UK
HERITAGE RECORDS HTGCD152 [63]
A quotation from the Irish poet Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara (c.1715-1810) sums up the theme of this remarkable new CD of Irish airs and dances: “Far dearer to my heart than a gift of gems or gold / Are the Fair Hills of Éire, O!” It is fair so say that there is a degree of tearjerking in this recital, but also much vivacity and fun.
The opening number, Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself, is one of the earliest published compositions by John Field, the Irish Chopin. The source of the original tune would seem to be unknown: it may be one of Field’s own inventions. He has worked this up into a satisfying rondo.
Michele Esposito was an Italian pianist and composer who in 1882 was appointed professor of piano at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. He spent much of his mature career in Éire. He established the Royal Dublin Society Chamber concerts.He also founded, and conducted, the Dublin Orchestral Society. His opus includes an opera, The Postbag, an Irish Symphony, an overture to Shakespeare’s Othello, some chamber music and, unsurprisingly, many piano pieces. The Two Irish Melodies are based on old tunes: Avenging and Fair on the air Cruachan na Feine, and Though the Last Glimpse of Erin on the famous melody The Coulin. Both reveal subtle pianism, but most of all they present “a musical expression of affection and admiration for his adopted home”.
Unsurprisingly, the Londonderry Air is included. It has been arranged many times, as in the popular “classical” versions by Charles Villiers Stanford and Percy Grainger. Stephen Hough’s reworking is suitably sentimental and dreamy. Strangely similar in melodic progress is the redoubtable Amy Beach’s The Fair Hills of Éire, O!, a “subtle and evocative meditation on the Irish landscape”. This miniature is an adaptation of an early seventeenth century song.
I admit to never having heard of Edward Swan Hennessy until now. He was born in 1866 in Rockford, Illinois. After his musical formation he travelled much in Europe; he owned homes in Italy and England. He ended up in Paris in 1903. His compositions were influenced at first by Schumann and the later German romantic tradition. He soon became enamoured of Impressionism. In 1912, he became involved with a group of French composers who sought to infuse their art with a spirit of Celticism, combining “elements [of] Breton and Irish traditional music and culture”. He promulgated the Irish element in this endeavour. The Variations sur un Air Irlandais Ancien were published in 1908 (maybe written earlier), so they predate his later interests but may have been a catalyst. This satisfying number explores many moods in its twelve variations. The theme is an unidentified folk tune.
Philip Hammond’s delightful Old Truagh and The Beardless Boy from Miniatures and Modulations were created in 2011 as a part of his 60th birthday celebrations. The composer has explained that they were commissioned for that year’s Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at the Queen’s University. They present a series of pieces for solo piano based on the Edward Bunting collection of Irish melodies from the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792. I understand that Bunting, then only 19, was employed to write down and annotate everything he heard at that event. His subsequent published edition, The Ancient Music of Ireland, is in three volumes and “provided a treasure trove of over 300 bardic tunes and their attributions”. Hammond has selected 21 of them. As I understand the situation, Bunting’s original transcription is the Miniature and Hammond’s freely styled variation is the Modulation. The complete set has been recorded by Michael McHale (on Grand Piano GP702); I have not heard this album.
The short Sionna, Spirit of the Shannon, composed by Philip Martin for the present pianist, fits in well with the ethos of this disc. Like Sabrina for the Severn, and Isis for the Thames, Sionna is the personification of that great Irish River.
Many years ago, when I used to rummage in piles of musty sheet music in the famous Glasgow Barras, I often came across pieces by Sydney Smith. I never bought them, as they were well beyond my Grade 5 and a bit. His catalogues of published piano music exceeded 400 items. Every Victorian piano stool would have contained several of his works.
The liner notes rightly suggest that Smith’s The Last Rose of Summer, Paraphrase de concert, owes much to Franz Liszt. Certainly there is some remarkably effective pianism here – from a gentle exposition of the well-known melody to the tremendous technical complexity and pyrotechnics and figurations inherent in its gradually expanding development.
I was delighted that David Quigley chose to include the Two Folksong Arrangements by E.J. Moeran. Mot an Irishman by birth, Moeran was one by association and often by inspiration. The Irish Love Song from 1926 is based on a folk song that he may have heard from his friend Peter Warlock or his mentor Hamilton Harty. The liner notes should have mentioned that the tune was “I grieve when I think on the dear happy days of my youth” by Michael Hogan (1828–1899), the Bard of Thomond, and published in Padraic Colum’s Anthology of Irish Verse (1922). The second piece is The White Mountain, based on the melody The Star of County Down also known as Dives and Lazarus. Moeran’s take is unhurried and introspective. There is little chromaticism here, just a serene diatonicism.
The final track is Stanford’s A Reel from his Four Irish Dances. This has been “souped up” by Percy Grainger. It is summed up by a note in the score: “…a rollicking Cork Reel engagingly entitled ‘Take her out and air her’ with which is contrasted a graceful middle episode based on a winsome tune named ‘The cutting of the hay.’” Earlier in this recital, the opening dance of this set was performed. Maguire's Kick was originally a marching song which Irish rebels sang in 1798. The middle section uses a Leitrim jig. It is a pity that all four of Grainger’s arrangements could not have been included.
David Quigley’s playing is enthusiastic and thoughtful, complimented by the superb sound quality.
The liner notes give a good introduction to this repertoire. Although composer dates are given in the text, I would have liked to see them in the track listing. Equally helpful here would have been the dates of composition where known; in some cases they appear in the commentary.
This is a splendid album of arrangements, transcriptions, re-imaginings and variation. It all adds up to an evocative musical portrait of the Island of Ireland.
John France
Contents
John Field (1782-1837)
Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself (1797)
Stephen Hough (b. 1961)
Londonderry Air (Danny Boy) (?)
Michele Esposito (1855-1929)
Avenging and Bright and Though the Last Glimpse of Erin (The Coulin) from Two Irish Melodies op.39 (publ.1896)
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)/Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961)
Maguire's Kick and A Reel from Four Irish Dances, op.89 (1907/1916)
Edward Swan Hennessy (1866-1929)
Variations sur un Air Irlandais Ancien, op.28 (c.1908)
Philip Martin (b. 1947)
Sionna, Spirit of the Shannon (?)
Sydney Smith (1839-1889)
The Last Rose of Summer, Paraphrase de concert, op.173 (c.1883)
Philip Hammond (b. 1951)
Old Truagh and The Beardless Boy from Miniatures and Modulations (2011)
Amy Beach (1867-1944)
The Fair Hills of Éire, O!, op.91 (1922)
E. J. Moeran (1894-1950)
Irish Love Song and The White Mountain (The Star of the County Down) from Two Folksong Arrangements (1926-1927)
