COMPOSERS: Harty
LABELS: Chandos
WORKS: The Children of Lir; Variations on a Dublin Air; The Londonderry Air; Ode to a Nightingale
PERFORMER: Heather Harper (soprano), Ralph Holmes (violin); Ulster Orchestra/Bryden Thomson
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 7033 (1979/82)
The Children of Lir, changed into swans by their wicked step-mother, had to swim Ireland’s seas for 1,000 years. Harty’s tone poem is darkly powerful and Romantic. This, and his sublime setting of Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale, with its soaring vocal lines (Harper, magnificent) and rich orchestral sonorities are the gems of this and the two accompanying reissues (available as a set or separately) that include the violin and piano concertos and An Irish Symphony – all superb. Ian Lace
Harty: The Children of Lir; Variations on a Dublin Air; The Londonderry Air; Ode to a Nightingale
The Children of Lir, changed into swans by their wicked step-mother, had to swim Ireland’s seas for 1,000 years. Harty’s tone poem is darkly powerful and Romantic. This, and his sublime setting of Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale, with its soaring vocal lines (Harper, magnificent) and rich orchestral sonorities are the gems of this and the two accompanying reissues (available as a set or separately) that include the violin and piano concertos and An Irish Symphony – all superb. Ian Lace
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:11 pm