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Seán Ó Riada (1931-71), the best-known Irish composer in the Ireland of his day, left only a small body of work. The best of his pieces that I have heard, Hercules Dux Ferrariae, a 1957 set of variations for string orchestra, certainly deserves wider currency than it has ever achieved. But outside of the field of traditional music, Ó Riada's best-remembered achievement is the rather mawkish and poorly orchestrated music he wrote for George Morrison's memorable film, Mise Éire. This new issue brings together the familiar suite and the music from the soundtrack, recorded in 1959 under the baton of the composer himself. The score's historical impact is beyond dispute, and the way the work was treated as a substantial musical achievement says a lot about the Ireland of the time. The hagiographic notes accompanying this new issue will do Ó Riada no favours in the long-term. www.gaellinn.com
Michael Dervan
HARTY: PIANO CONCERTO; FANTASY SCENES; COMEDY OVERTUREPeter Donohoe (piano), Ulster Orchestra/ Takuo Yuasa Naxos 8.557731 ***
The big piece in this collection of music by Hillsborough-born Hamilton Harty (1879- 1941) is the Piano Concerto of 1922. It's written in a style of self-admiring romantic virtuosity, and might at times aptly be described as Rachmaninov meets Irish music. It does rather wander, even in Peter Donohoe's helpfully daring account, which shaves over seven minutes off the timing of Malcolm Binns's 1983 recording for Chandos. The earliest work, the light Comedy Overture of 1906, is briskly and brightly done. The Fantasy Scenes (from an Eastern Romance) of 1919 have the colour and exoticism you might expect of a late-romantic Russian ballet set in the Orient. They're charming enough to make you wonder why they've been shunned by Irish orchestras. www.naxos.com
Michael Dervan
JENKINS: SIX-PART CONSORTS Emilia Benjamin (tenor viol), Mikko Perkola (bass viol), Phantasm Avie AV2099 *****
You only have to think of the string sextets of Brahms or Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht to be reminded of how sonically intoxicating music for six strings can be. Or you could think of the six-part viol consorts by John Jenkins (1592-1678), which Phantasm's director, Laurence Dreyfus, describes in his lively notes as revelling "in the traditional rigours of continuous counterpoint". There's nothing dry or abstract in that counterpoint, certainly not in these sinuous, sensual, rhythmically energised performances by Phantasm and friends. The lines of the complex polyphony are intertwined in a way that's hugely rewarding for the players. The harmonic movement is paced with a skill that keeps the non-playing listener thoroughly involved in the broader picture. www.avierecords.com
Michael Dervan
MOZART: PIANO CONCERTOS Mitsuko Uchida (piano), English Chamber Orchestra/Jeffrey Tate Philips 475 7306 (8 CDs) ***
Mitsuko Uchida's much-praised, lovely sounding 1985- 1990 recordings of Mozart's mature piano concertos (Nos 5, 6, 8, 9, 11-27, plus the Rondo in D, K382) were clearly going to be on Philips's shortlist for reissue in this year of Mozart celebrations. Uchida delights in the resources of her modern concert grand, mixing it up between perky rhythms with peckily bright accompaniments and tonal shading with the most softly cushioned of contours. The delights of such top-class playing are, however, limited by the way the artifice stands out for its own sake, so that the pianistic approach tends to draw attention towards itself and away from Mozart's music. But if a slightly prancing energy and the deftest of fingerwork are what you want - and the elegance is not without an occasional hint of attitude - then Uchida may be just the player for you. www.deccaclassics.com
Michael Dervan
