A second volume of folk music proves equally beguiling
The Strad Issue: August 2024
Description: A second volume of folk music proves equally beguiling
Musicians: Gerald Peregrine (cello) Lynda O’Connor (violin) Antony Ingham (piano)
Works: Works by Bax, Breatnach, Bridge, Clarke, Elgar, Hughes, Ireland, Trad. and Vaughan Williams
Catalogue number: NAXOS 8574550
Gerald Peregrine and Antony Ingham’s highly successful Folk Tales album came out in 2019. Covid followed, and the 2,000-odd concerts the Irish cellist performed in healthcare settings prompted some of the arrangements of British and Irish folk songs heard here alongside miniatures from the turn of the 20th century.
Joining forces with Irish violinist Lynda O’Connor enables far more variety of instrumentation than in the earlier release – cello and piano duos are interspersed with piano solos by Ireland and Bax, solo cello and solo violin arrangements, violin and cello duos and a single piece for piano trio. Each track is sensitively crafted, with beauty of tone paramount and a warm, closely recorded sound.
Watch: Orchestra of the Swan perform ‘Dives and Lazarus’
Read: ‘Fairies and magic to folk music and spooky sounds’ - Premiere of the month: In uncertain terms
Read: ‘I don’t like standing still’ - Daniel Kidane on his new violin concerto for Julia Fischer
If works such as Elgar’s Salut d’amour feel more salon than folk, by the time we reach Rebecca Clarke’s I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still the folk inflexions are unmistakable.
The traditional The Last Rose of Summer, embellished with double-stopping and Irish folk ornamentation, is one of several effective solo cello arrangements (made by Peregrine), but it is the duet arranged with O’Connor, She Moved through the Fair, that steals the show. O’Connor’s high notes shine like clear water over the cello drone accompaniment, while Peregrine’s solos at the beginning and end sound as expressive as a human voice.
JANET BANKS
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