Cranna Ceil

Gael Linn

As listening experiences go, this is a standout. Fiddler, composer and producer Máire Breatnach returns to the recording studio with a raft of her own compositions, a many- faceted album of rare beauty, which she's christened Cranna Ceoilor Music Trees.

Breatnach characterises these thought- provoking set pieces (slow airs all) as “mood snapshots – melodic snippets that drifted into reach and came ashore on the beach of consciousness”. Moya Brennan’s subtle and judiciously placed vocal shapes shimmer, while Breatnach’s beloved viola and fiddle intercut with Cormac de Barra’s harp and Fionán de Barra’s genteel guitar. Each tune readily asserts its will on the intimate quartet of musicians. Many of these soundscapes ache for a visual accompaniment, yet the singularity of each tune allows it to stand on its own merit with graceful and wilful ease.

www.mairebreatnach.com

SIOBHÁN LONG

Seamus Tansey
The Best of Seamus Tanset: Traditional Irish Flute
Arran Records ***

There's a rough-hewn quality to this collection from the Sligo flute player that fits hand in glove with Tansey's robust personality. It's a remastering of his 1971 long player, and there's enough vim swirling in the midst of the jig set, Round Kilavelleand Mail Coach Road to Sligo, to fuel a flight of flute players.

With vigorous piano accompaniment from Josephine Keegan, and renowned Belfast fiddler Seán Maguire on production duties, this is a snapshot in time that’s as far from sepia as Tansey is from the diplomatic corps.

The musician’s own sleeve notes are a hoot, complete with the indispensable detail that at the time of recording he was “well trained with a full set of teeth”. Personality is writ large throughout a collection that serves its master’s reputation well.

www.allmediaentertainment.co.uk