Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra & Mark Redmond - Vincent Kennedy: Music of People and Place (2023) [24/44]

Composer Vincent Kennedy and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra bring MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE to Navona Records. Selected from some of his most beloved works and inspired by the people, mysticism, mythology, history, and landscapes of his native Ireland, this album is a rich collection of 19 stories, each appealing to the human spirit with sublime performances by the superb musicians of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Where The North Wind Blows, in which the orchestra is joined by Mark Redmond on uilleann pipes, is one of the few — if not the only — concert pieces written for Bb Uilleann pipes. This powerful music contrasts in character with Colmcille’s Lament, heard first with orchestra and then in a new textural layer with broad raw emotion at the critical close of the album. From IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN is the deeply moving Brothers to Arms, the reverential Arbour Hill, and the hauntingly evocative Grá (Love) played beautifully by Mia Cooper (Violin) and Yue Tang (Cello).

Kennedy’s most performed work, Meditation on the Book of Kells, and a musical memorial to John F. Kennedy are here. And for the child and dreamer in all of us – The First Steam Train in Ireland, The Accidental Tango, and The Birth Cloak.

Much like the Irish library’s stained-glass window into which the melody from A Sunny Day In Fethard-on-Sea was honorably etched, MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE is an inspired orchestral body of work painted in a series of kaleidoscope slides, each as elegant as the last, offering a rewarding and enriching musical experience for the listener.

In this album, MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE, my wish is to bring the listener into the world of my orchestral music; music has been a faithful friend: always there to uplift, distract, color, and comfort. I write music to enrich life and take my inspiration from many sources and possibilities, like a bee using the nectar of different flowers to produce a unique honey. Apart from Where the North Wind Blows and John Fitzgerald Kennedy – The Torch Still Burns Brightly, all the tracks come from larger multi movement symphonic works whose titles I have also given. The titles, with the year of composition in parenthesis, are largely self-explanatory, and only where I feel it is absolutely necessary have I added more text. Sometimes my titles are in Irish with the English translation beside it in parenthesis. I hope you find something positive for yourself in my music. — Vincent Kennedy

RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Mark Redmond, uilleann pipes
Vincent Kennedy, conductor
Mia Cooper, solo violin (track 7)
Yue Tang, solo cello (track 7)

Tracklist:
01. Kennedy: Where the North Wind Blows
02. Kennedy: A Sunny Day in Fethard-on-Sea
03. Kennedy: Meditation on the Book of Kells
04. Kennedy: Abbeys, Monks and Knights Templar
05. Kennedy: Trasna go Dál Riada (Over the Sea to Dál Riada)
06. Kennedy: John Fitzgerald Kennedy - The Torch Still Burns Brightly
07. Kennedy: Grá (Love)
08. Kennedy: Raising the Flag
09. Kennedy: Brothers to Arms
10. Kennedy: Valour and Discipline
11. Kennedy: Arbour Hill
12. Kennedy: An Capall Bán (The White Horse)
13. Kennedy: If You Have to Ask You Will Never Know
14. Kennedy: The First Steam Train in Ireland
15. Kennedy: Colmcille’s Lament
16. Kennedy: The Birth Cloak
17. Kennedy: Tír na nÓg (Land of Eternal youth)
18. Kennedy: The Accidental Tango
19. Kennedy: Colmcille's Lament - Solo Uilleann Pipes


Thanks to the Original customer!