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DCD34329-CD
£24.99
Following the success of their partnership in Calen-O: Songs from the North of Ireland, Carolyn Dobbin and Iain Burnside return to Ulster’s rich but undervalued musical heritage with a programme of songs by two twentieth-century women, all but a few of them premiere recordings.
Dorothy Parke is well known for her songs for children but is revealed here as a much more wide-ranging composer, steeped in the folk melody and poetry of Ireland. Joan Trimble, an accomplished concert pianist, left behind only a handful of published songs but a small trove of manuscripts, including her opera Blind Raftery, written for BBC Television in 1957, two arias from which complete this journey of discovery.
"Parke’s songs are charming, brief, simple, supple and salon-sweet. They’re attractively lyrical and in no way combative. Rather,they’re the product of an imagination that’s effortlessly communicative. She cleverly varies her piano patterns, whether striding confidently or suffused with Irish folkloric spirit ... Though they’re as concise as Parke’s, Joan Trimble’s songs employ a more sophisticated palette. In The County Mayothe songs are varied, and contrasted strongly, whether athletically fiery, full of bardic melancholy or exuding a rich folkloric sense, complete with exuberant flourishes. It’s an exciting and concise example of her art ... Carolyn Dobbin and Iain Burnside explore the song’s charms – whether winsome or jaunty – with a proper appreciation of theirstatus. Nothing is over-inflated, but neither do they play up the faery elements either. Pianist Ingrid Sawers accompaniesTrimble’s The County Mayo very adeptly. The recording in Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh has been sensitively balanced and as in their last album, Calen-O, Dobbin and Burnside are adroit explorers of Ulster’s recent musical past"
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL
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Carolyn Dobbin and Iain Burnside have come up with another gem of a disc for Delphian (its predecessor, 'Calen-O: Songs from the North of Ireland', deservedly received a cordial recommendation from Jeremy Dibble in May 2018) ...The County Mayo with its two-piano accompaniment emerges as freshly as the day it was conceived, with Dobbin enjoying sparkling support from Burnside and Ingrid Sawers. Captivating, too, are the settings of Thomas Hardy's "Weathers and John Masefield's 'A Wanderer's Song' ...Wee Hughie' warms the cockles in its touching simplicity, and is one of a number of items here that still feature in song festivals ...No praise can be too high for Dobbin's assured and strongly communicative advocacy of all this appealing material, to say nothing of Burnside's customarily exemplary pianism. Paul Baxter's production values are out of the top drawer. First-rate presentation, too, featuring invaluable booklet notes by Nuala McAllister Hart and Joanna McVey (Trimble's daughter), and full texts. A most gratifying issue"
Release Date: 18 October 2024
Catalogue No: DCD34329
Total playing time: 1:02:20
PREVIEW
Joan Trimble:The County Mayo
Collections: All Releases, New Releases, Song
Category: Carolyn Dobbin, Iain Burnside, Ireland, Song
