The latest CD releases reviewed

SHAUN DAVEY AND FRIENDS
Béal Tuinne Tara Music ****

The poetry of Caoimhín Ó Cinnéide, the late west Kerry poet and teacher, has been reignited by these musical diverse settings, composed and arranged by Shaun Davey, and performed live last summer in St James' Church in Dingle. Davey's deeply sympathetic compositions scatter stardust across Ó Cinnéide's extraordinary tales of ordinary lives. The harmonies of Éilís Ní Chinnéide and Rita Connolly on Lá Éigin Fadó Fadó are a revelation: celebrating the simplicity of a day spent in good company. Séamus Begley's reading of Ar Muir San Óiche, teetering on the brink of an uncertainty born of unfamiliarity with the song, is a delicate filament of a thing, with Eoin Ó Beaglaoí's tiptoeing concertina and Jim Murray's restrained guitar shoring up the rear magnificently. A magnificent meithil, a snapshot of a glorious summer's evening of music. www.taramusic.com

Download tracks: Briotánach Óg ó L'Orient, Bealtaine na Maighdine

MATT MOLLOY & JOHN CARTY WITH ARTY MCGLYNN
Pathway to the Well Racket Records ****

They're pure gold dust - flute and fiddle players Matt Molloy and John Carty, backed by the ever-effacing Arty McGlynn on guitar. It really doesn't get much better than this. The only puzzle is their decision to include three studio recordings amid the effervescence of their live performance (in Matt's Molloy's pub in Westport). Ballinafad/Killavil Post, the penultimate polka set, is a spirited calling card: impish, with a spring in its step and fuelled by an unfettered delight in the magic of

a tune. The hiccups and raw edges of the live setting remain, simply adding to the "wish you were here" sense of it all. Unmissable music from two unquestionable masters (who'd slough off that title with horror). www.johncartymusic.com

Download tracks: Johnny Gorman's, The Bloom of Youth