Review & CD Giveaway: Altan ’25th Anniversary Celebration’
Before I get to today’s review and giveaway, I’d like to announce the winners of our Julie Fowlis contest. I had a good many people enter and I so wish I had enough CDs to give you all, but the winners are Duncan and Laura! And since we had such a great turnout, and it is St. Patrick’s Day after all, I decided to draw a name from the ones left to win a copy of Murphy’s Irish Pub, a lively instrumental album. Our runner up and winner of Murphy’s Irish Pub is Tony! Congrats to everyone! Emails will be sent to you shortly. To those who didn’t win, don’t worry, you can try again with today’s giveaway. Now, on to Altan …
No traditional Irish band in the last twenty years has had a wider impact on audiences and music lovers throughout the world than Altan. In fact, they were the first group (along with Clannad) that I came in contact with when I began to explore the music of my heritage. Since then, they have delighted me immensely.
What’s so special about this album commemorating their twenty-five years together is the mixture of their timeless folk sound with that of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra of Dublin. This is a pairing made in heaven. Most often when folk groups collaborate with classical it’s not at all pretty, but something magical has happened here and I’m left in awe. The orchestra has taken Altan’s classic precision harmonies up a notch and what we get is nothing less than enchanting.
Altan has worked in the past with a string quartet but a full orchestra is quite another thing. Irish composer Fiachra Trench elaborated Altan’s compositions, fleshed them out and expanded them without taking anything away. Instead, he always allowed the quintet the spotlight.
The album contains nine lyrical songs and six instrumentals from their quarter-century career, including one of my personal favorites, Dónal agus Mórag.
Tracklisting
- Is the Big Man Within?/Tilly Finn’s Reel
- Cití na gCumann
- The Roseville
- I Wish My Love was a Red Red Rose
- Dónal agus Mórag
- Mo Ghaoil
- Bog an Lochain/The Margaree Reel/The Humours of Westport
- A Tune for Frankie
- Molly na gCuach Ní Chuilleannáin
- Soilse na Nollag
- As I Roved Out
- The Sunset
- Gleanntáin Glas Ghaoth Dobhair
- Comb Your Hair and Curl It/Gweebarra Bridge
- Dún Do Shúil
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GIVEAWAY!
Thanks to Compass Records and Rock Paper Scissors, we have ONE copy of ‘25th Anniversary Celebration’ to give away to a lucky Read All Over Reviews reader! Simply fill out this form and you’re entered. Contest runs until March 25, 2010 @ 11:59pm central. Tell your friends! Winner will be chosen and announced on the following day.
Contest open to the United States and Canada only. Sorry guys, but since I pay for shipping out of my own pocket I need to keep the bill low.
