Another year near hill-top Celleno and clear April sunny skies. The nights are cold still. New energy stirring.
I finished the six Irish Duets for Cello and Piano, short settings of some of the loveliest Irish Slow Airs “ar an sean n’os ” known to me : Im Aonar Seal, Na Conneries, Sean O Duibhir An Ghleanna, A Mhairin De Barra, A Una Bhain 1. and 2. These six are among the finest we have; in each great expressive power is unleashed in fine architectural trellis-work. Four lines in each , A B B A , beautifully balanced. The perfection of a Schubert Lied. Voila !
These settings are neither neo-romantic nor kitsch nor minimalistic nor neo-Bart’ok but rather vintage Corcoran. Each captures the significant motif of the “amhran” in question . The piano is a wash of orchestral colour, of course . The cello surges. I keep the wildness, ornamentation; melodic ” multa in parvis”. Not a note too much. Not a sigh, an ascent – descent, an apoggiatura without high voltage.