Celtic Albums-10 CDs; Altan, Capercaillie, Silly Wizard, Karen Ashbrook etc EAC FLAC

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Here is a selection of Celtic music, predominately from the late 1980s through the late 1990s-but as much of it is traditional, release dates are almost inconsequential. In order there are

Altan-Harvest Storm

“Harvest Storm is the perfect Altan album. There is not a weak song here. The playing, the singing, the arrangements are all perfect. The song "King of the Pipers" is just about the best song they ever recorded (only An Mhaighhdean Mhara from Island Angel is better).
Truth is, Island Angel (their very next recording) and this record are two of the most beautiful records you will ever hear.
Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself here. What is so special about Altan? Well they play Irish/Celtic music. Very traditional yet somehow modern in the way they approach the music. They take this music VERY seriously. Not that they aren't having a good time but this music matters and they play it with a cool but fierce passion.
Whatever their motivation, Altan picks great songs and then plays them BETTER than anyone has ever played them before. They don't write much original material (usually one or two songs per record) but when you hear their version of the song, somehow, it feels right!
One must also mention the singing of Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh. She doesn't sing on every track, about half of each record is pure instrumentals. But when she does sing, she can break your heart.”

Karen Ashbrook-Hills of Erin
A sweeping sonic travelogue of Ireland featuring Karen Ashbrook on hammered dulcimer, Irish flute and pennywhistle and with special guests: David Scheim on piano, Bobby Read on woodwinds and percussion, Sue Richards on Celtic harp, Connie McKenna on guitar, Carolyn Surrick on viola da gamba and Myron Bretholz on bodhran. Music Includes: Bank of Red Roses, Reaping the Rye, Connaughtman's Rambles, hornpipes, airs, The Osprey by Scottish musician and composer Dougie MacLean, and a prelude by J.S. Bach.

You can see a sample of performance here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_TdT4pT5fg

Karen Ashbrook-Knock on the Door
Featuring Karen Ashbrook on Hammered dulcimer, Irish flute, pennywhistle and with some of the best Celtic musicians in the USA. Go straight to the heart of an Irish session with jigs, reels, airs and Breton dances performed on hammered dulcimer and Irish flute. Karen is joined by Celtic superstars: All-Ireland fiddle champion Brendan Mulvihill on fiddle, Grammy-nominated Chris Norman on wooden flute and four-time Scottish harp champion Sue Richards on Celtic harp; also David Kornblum on bouzouki, guitar and fiddle; Dan Blum on guitar, Wendy Morrison on concertina and Myron Bretholz on bodhran.

Derek Bell-Carolan’s Receipt
As classical composer and virtuoso
Bell was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Because he had been misdiagnosed at an early age as having a disease that would lead to blindness, his parents gave him a musical upbringing. He was something of a child prodigy, composing his first concerto at the age of 12. He graduated from the Royal College of Music in 1957. While studying there, he became friends with the flautist James Galway. From 1958 to 1990 he composed several classical works, including three piano sonatas, two symphonies, Three Images of Ireland in Druid Times (in 1993) for harp, strings and timpani, Nocturne on an Icelandic Melody (1997) for oboe d'amore and piano and Three Transcendental Concert Studies (2000) for oboe and piano. He had mastered and held a notable collection of instruments, including various harps, harpsichord, piano, cymbalom, and all the members of the oboe family of instruments (musette, oboe, cor anglais, bass oboe) and the heckelphone[1]
As manager of the Belfast Symphony Orchestra, Bell was responsible for maintaining the instruments and keeping them in tune. Out of curiosity, he asked Sheila Larchet-Cuthbert to teach him how to play the harp. Over time he had many harp teachers. In 1965 he became an oboist and harpist with the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra. [2] He had been known to be able to skilfully play the pedal harp, neo-Celtic harp, and wire-strung Irish-Bardic harp. Bell served as a professor of harp at the Academy of Music in Belfast. [3]
Bell was briefly featured in a 1986 BBC documentary, The Celts, in which he discussed the role and evolution of the harp in Celtic Irish and Welsh society. Apart from this, video of him only exists in minor interviews and performances with The Chieftains.
As dulcimer player
The hammered dulcimer is documented as having been played in Ireland in the 18th century and is mentioned by James Joyce as an instrument he heard being played in the street. Bell introduced a small cimbalom (a hammered dulcimer from central and eastern Europe), which he called tiompan after the medieval Irish instrument.
Bell was an admirer of the music of Nikolai Karlovich Medtner and was the co-founder, with the bass-baritone Hugh Sheehan, of the first British Medtner Society which gave a series of successful concerts of Medtner's music in the 1970s long before Medtner's music was recognised as it is today.
The Chieftains
On St Patrick's Day in 1972 Bell gave a performance on radio of the music of Turlough O'Carolan, an 18th-century blind Irish harpist. At that time Carolan's music was virtually unknown, though today almost every album of harp music contains one of his compositions. Working with Bell on the project were several members of The Chieftains. Bell became friends with the leader of the Chieftains, Paddy Moloney. For two precarious years he recorded both with the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra and with The Chieftains, until finally becoming a full-time member of the Chieftains in 1975.
You can hear one piece that is played with the finesse of a top tier formally trained classical musician here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOVRZdKRrwg


 
Capercaillie-Secret People
Capercaillie is a Scottish band steeped in the folk tradition but unafraid of synthesizers, drums and dance beats. Try to imagine the Afro-Scottish fusion of Mouth Music crossed with the new age leanings of Clannad, and you'll have a good idea of what to expect -- lush, pretty settings of stark Celtic melodies with English and Scots Gaelic lyrics delivered by an athletic but restrained female singer. It's a winning combination, and there's hardly a misstep on this fine album. Sure, the evil landowner figure in "Four Stone Walls" is drawn a bit broadly, and the lyrics to "Grace and Pride" are a bit maudlin (what does it mean for honesty to "flow by one's side"?) but these minor flaws are more than compensated for by such stirring moments as "Seice Ruairidh" and "Hi Rim Bo," two pieces of traditional puirt-a-beuil ("mouth music") which were never meant to be accompanied at all but which benefit greatly from the bouncy synth-funk treatment they get here. And "Crime of Passion" is a heart-rendingly lovely ballad which avoids the sappy pitfalls of "Grace and Pride." Singer Karen Matheson has a wonderful voice that will remind Celtic pop fans of Mary Black; the rest of the band do a fine job blending traditional instruments with electronic ones to bring out the best qualities of both.

Here is them doing one song
https://www.youtube.com/watc...&list=PL01B8BE4217D64901

Eileen Ivers
Grammy awarded, Emmy nominated, London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, guest starred with over 40 orchestras, original Musical Star of Riverdance, Nine Time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion, Sting, Hall and Oates, The Chieftains, 'Fiddlers 3' with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Regina Carter, Patti Smith, Al Di Meola, Steve Gadd, founding member of Cherish the Ladies, movie soundtracks including Gangs of New York, performed for Presidents and Royalty worldwide…this is a short list of accomplishments, headliners, tours, and affiliations. Fiddler Eileen Ivers has established herself as the pre-eminent exponent of the Irish fiddle in the world today.

It is a rare and select grade of spectacular artists whose work is so boldly imaginative and clearly virtuosic that it alters the medium. It has been said that the task of respectfully exploring the traditions and progression of the Celtic fiddle is quite literally on Eileen Ivers' shoulders. The Washington Post states, "She suggests the future of the Celtic fiddle."

She's been called a "sensation" by Billboard magazine and "the Jimi Hendrix of the violin" by The New York Times. "She electrifies the crowd with a dazzling show of virtuoso playing" says The Irish Times. Ivers' recording credits include over 80 contemporary and traditional albums and numerous movie scores. Eileen is hailed as one of the great innovators and pioneers in the Celtic and World music genres.

The daughter of Irish immigrants, Eileen Ivers grew up in the culturally diverse neighborhood of the Bronx, New York. Rooted in Irish traditional music since the age of eight, Eileen proceeded to win nine All-Ireland fiddle championships, a tenth on tenor banjo and over 30 championship medals, making her one of the most awarded persons ever to compete in these prestigious competitions.

Being an Irish-American, the intrigue of learning more about the multicultural sounds of her childhood took hold. After graduating magna cum laude in Mathematics from Iona College and while continuing her post-graduate work in Mathematics, Eileen fully immersed herself in the different genres of music which she experienced growing up in New York. Perhaps it was the mathematical mind coupled with her passion for seeking parallels in certain traditional music styles which contributed to what has become the signature sound featured in much of Eileen's recordings since the late 1980's.

Eileen and her ensemble headline prestigious performing arts centers, guest star with numerous symphonies, perform at major festivals worldwide, and have appeared on national and international television. The L.A. Times proclaims, "Ivers' presentation was music with the kind of life and spirit that come together when talented artists from different backgrounds find the linkages that connect all forms of music...no wonder the audience loved every minute
And about this album
Eileen Ivers, a New Yorker of Irish ancestry, plays traditional Celtic music with flawless technique. Stylistically, she seems to be on her own, not adhering strictly to any style in particular (such as Cape Breton, Donegal, etc.); however, her childhood fiddle teacher of many years was from County Limerick, so that was probably a formative influence. She is daringly eclectic in her repertoire and her stylistic techniques, as when she takes a traditional hornpipe and arranges it to dovetail melodically with Pachelbel's Canon ("Pachelbel's Frolics). But even when playing a set of traditional tunes in the traditional way, the music shimmers and moves like that of few other players. Her playing is strong and delicate, clean and impetuous, wild and sensitive. . . for people who are serious about taking traditional music forward into the present there is a lot here to listen to and to meditate on, as well as to learn from. Ivers is not just a fiddle player, but a creative contemporary musician whose arrangements are expanding the limits of her art.

Bonnie Rideout-Kindred Spirits
Ms. Rideout is the only American to hold the honor of representing Scottish fiddle music at the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival. She is the first woman to hold the national Scottish fiddle title and the youngest to have garnered the U.S. Championship, winning it for three consecutive years. Thereafter, Bonnie discontinued competing to become an adjudicator and professional recording artist and has maintained a consistently high profile in the international Celtic music scene for almost thirty years.

Silly Wizard-Too Many Partings
Silly Wizard was a Scottish folk band that began forming in Edinburgh in 1970. The founder members were two like-minded university students—Gordon Jones (guitar, bodhran, vocals, bouzouki, mandola) and Bob Thomas (guitar, mandolin, mandola, banjo, concertina). The as-yet-unnamed band was sometimes joined by thirteen-year-old schoolboy Johnny Cunningham (fiddle, viola, mandola, vocals), who began more extensive touring with the band in 1972.[1]
This album was recorded in 1979 and is about as fine an example of Scottish music as you are likely to hear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa7nPdviaPI

Maggie Sansone-Dance Upon the Shore
America's premier hammered dulcimer player and recording artist, Maggie Sansone's music and pioneering artistry has brought the ringing beauty of her music to hundreds of thousands of music lovers around the world.

Maggie has been featured on CBS-TV Sunday Morning, and NPR's All Things Considered, Performance Today, and The Thistle & Shamrock. As producer and performer, Maggie has performed at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, National Geographic Grosvenor Auditorium and many other venues; from the large stage to small town fairs, Renaissance and folk festivals, special events and weddings. Maggie brings her unique vision and virtuosity to music of the ancient Celtic lands and more.

Recent awards include:

WAMMIE award for best Irish/Celtic instrumentalist from the Washington Area Music Association (DC's answer to the Grammies);
ANNIE Award for Performing Arts from the Anne Arundel Country Cultural Arts Foundation.
Maggie is the author of hammered dulcimer music books published by Mel Bay Publications. Mel Bay included Maggie in their Hammered dulcimer Anthology Series featuring America’s finest performers and teachers. http://www.maggiesmusic.com/products/mmmusicbooks.html

Maggie is founder and CEO of Maggie's Music record label. The label, which features over 50 albums distributed worldwide, is an eight time WAMMIE winner for "Record Label of the Year."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn2_GkfOY-0