Cormac De Barra and Anne-Marie O’Farrell: Duopoly | Album Review

The harp further reinstates itself at the heart of contemporary trad with this sparkling collaboration. The pair's playful approach to the canon pays dividends, challenging the listener to unpick the five interwoven O'Carolan tunes within Sir Festus Burke. The choice of Albeniz' divine Asturias, meditative, wave-like, insistent, allows them to mine the real depths (and the rarely revealed darker side) of their instruments with striking intuition. A reading of the west Kerry air, Port na bPúcaí, is striking, the strings eking out yet more layers of mystery from a tune more readily associated with the accordion. With their spare addition of vocals, especially buoyant on the opener, An Fhallaingín Mhuimhneach, and O'Farrell's piquant compositions, Duopoly straddles that elusive traditional/classical divide. cormacdebarra.com