GLEANNTÁN
Sliabh Notes
Matt Cranitch - Donal Murphy - Tommy Sullivan
OSSCD 114
Guest Musicians
Stephen Cooney, Guitar/ Bass/ Keyboard and Percussion
John Larkin, Banjo
Johnny McCarthy, Flute
Brian McGrath, Keyboard
Martin Brunsden, Double Bass
Mary Green, Vocal Harmony.
|
Track Listings
1. Annabeg Polka/ Pete Bradley's Polka/ Gleanntán Polka 2. The Miller's Maggot/ Peggy's Nettles. Jigs 3. The Durrow Reel/ The Swallow's Nest/ Lady Gordon. Reels 4. The Welcome. Song 5. Pádraig O'Keefe's Hornpipe/ Micky O'Callaghan's Fancy. HPs 6. Dan Murphy's Slide/ Danny Ab's Slide/ Nell O'Sullivan's Slide/ The Gullane Polka 7. Aisling Gheal. Slow Air 8. Palmer's Gate/ Glountane School -- 1862. Reels 9. Michael Burke's Jig/ Pádraig's Lark in the Morning/ Tom O'Connor's Jig. 10. The People of the West Cork - Kerry Border. Song 11. The Baltimore Salute/ The Silver Spear/ Grieg's Pipes/ The Master's Return. Reels 12. Tidy Anne/ The Hot Orange/ Minnie & Vinnie. Slides 13. Many's A Wild Night/ John Walsh's Polka/ Daly's Mill Click on underlined tracks to hear sound samples with Real Player |
Press Reviews
Irish Music Review.com
. The whole is well produced and presented. Highly recommended. Geoff
Wallis
Celtic Grooves Newsletter
Sliabh Notes is Matt Cranitch (fiddle), Dónal Murphy (accordion),
and Tommy O'Sullivan (vocals, guitar). The trio recorded their first album
a few years ago and called it Sliabh Notes --those who know Cranitch's
recordings Take a Bow and Give It Schtick will recognize his brand of puns--and,
like for Altan and Smokey Chimney before them, the title of the album has
become the name of the band.
This is a mostly instrumental album, with lovely solo and duet playing
by the two leads. Lots of great polkas and slides from Sliabh Luachra,
which music is the focus of attention--Gleanntán (found as Glountane
in English) is Padraig O'Keeffe's hometown. There are are also some marvelous
tunes with other origins: The Miller's Maggot, one of my favorite jigs,
the old Ballinakill classic Lady Gordon, Josie McDermott's The Baltimore
Salute, and Joe Liddy's brilliant Palmer's Gate. Cranitch, known for his
playing of slow airs, plays a wonderful Aisling Gheal. Singer Tommy O'Sullivan
also does a great job with the two songs, Tony Small's The Welcome and
Jimmy MacCarthy's The People of West Cork and Kerry.
Several guest musicians, among whom Steve Cooney (guitar, bass, percussion),
John Larkin (banjo), and Johnny McCarthy (flute), bring added variety to
the instrumental texture. The whole is well produced and presented. Highly
recommended.
This review by Philippe Varlet was originally written for his
Celtic Grooves Newsletter.
Rock'n'Reel
The trio that make up Sliabh Notes - Matt Cranitch, Tommy O'Sulllivan
and Donal Murphy are rooted in Cork, Kerry and West Limerick, the geographical
area known as Sliabh Luachra. Their second album, Gleanntán, named
after a townsland in the Sliabh Luachra area, captures the spirit of that
musical wonderland.
Their ensemble playing is shot through with a sprightly vigorous flavour,
with generous helpings of local slides and polkas. The fiddle, guitar and
accordion combination is tight and disciplined, with "Annabeg Polka", "The
Durrow Reel" and "Michael Burke's Jig" typifying their approach. O'Sullivan's
two songs, Tony Small's, "The Welcome" and Jimmy McCarthy's evocative "The
People of West Cork and Kerry Border" epitomise the character of the area.
Sliabh Notes are musical ambassadors for Sliabh Luachra, and supreme exponents
of traditional Irish music. John O'Regan.
The Living Tradition.
Sliabh Notes are Matt Cranitch (fiddle), Donal Murphy (accordion) and Tommy
O'Sullivan (guitar), joined here by Stephen Cooney, John Larkin, Johnny McCarthy,
Brian McGrath, Martin Brunsden and Mary Green. The music is predominantly Sliabh
Luachra in style and repertoire, and what a rich tradition this is and how well
itis treated by Sliabh Notes.
Sliabh Luachra style has for the best part of the century been associated with
great solo players, Pádraig O'Keefe, Terry 'Cuz' Teehan,
Johnny Leary, Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford. The real joy of this album is
in the way in which the various groupings of musicians
still retain a sense of the single voice. There are only two tracks where the
Big Trad Band is let loose on the music and even here the individual
instruments are allowed breathing space. Credit for that must go to Pearse Dunne
on the mixing desk.
The Rushy Mountain provides most of the tunes, there's a short excursion to
nearby Cúil Aodha for Aisling Gheal played as a fiddle and guitar
duet (lovely glissando note in the penultimate bar, listen out for it). Palmer's
Gate and The Baltimore Salute may have been composed elsewhere (Leitrim
and America) but here they take on a distinctive West Kerry accent.
The two songs are down home products, The People of West Cork and Kerry
by Jimmy McCarthy and The Welcome by Tony Small.
Both are given a new Irish twist by Tommy O'Sullivan, playing on a high strung
guitar and backed by Mary Green on harmony.
Great liner notes richly illustrated with photographs from Cristina Gando and
Liz McNamara. This is a treasure to own, and as we have come to expect, another
classic from Ossian. Andy Ryan
Hot Press
It's been a while in the making, but boy is it worth the wait.
Sliabh Notes, a.k.a. Matt Cranitch, Donal Murphy and Tommy O'Sullivan whetted
our appetites royally back in 95 with their eponymous debut. With their
ears trained to the holy ground of Slaibh Luachra, they gathered up a gabáil
full of the finest local tunes, much to the delight of the aficionado and
beginner alike.
With Gleanntan they continue on their peregrinations round that
nepulous region that straddles the Cork, Kerry and Limerick,
taking the odd detour to their spiritual brothers in Cúil Aodha
en route.
They take their title from the gentle rolling hill country that the
great Sliabh Luachra fiddle master, Pádraig O'Keefe called home.
Located on the bowl of a hill outside Castleisland, Gleanntán is
granted the finest of accolades in this reflective collection.
Fiddle, accordion and guitar and voice mesh effortlessly throughout,
with Donal Murphy's accordion meriting particular mention for it's double-jointed
manoeuvres that somehow sound like they were born and reared in the ether,
with neither hide nor hair of human interference.
Balance and control whisper from every recess of Gleanntan.
Whether it's the meditative restraint of Cranitch's fiddle and O'Sullivan's
guitar on Ashling Gheal or the uncluttered lope of accordion, guitar
and fiddle alongside the trademark bass guitar of Steve Cooney on Michael
Burke's Jig/Pádraig's Lark in the Morning/Tom O'Connor's Jig.
This is music that
Gneeveguilla accordion connoisseur Johnny Leary must surely be grinning
at, safe in the knowledge that the home tunes are alive and thriving.
O'Sullivan contributes two tunes, both sitting seamlessly with the
tunes. Jimmy McCarty's, The People of West Cork and Kerry is a particularly
inspired choice, with Cranitch's fiddle underscoring the ode-like mood
of the piece. Here, Mary Green lends subtle backing vocals that add just
the right amount of light and shade.
Elsewhere, there is enough of a scattering of old time dance tunes
to urge even the comatose to schlep around the room. Look no further than,
The
Baltimore Salute suite if it's good old fashioned dance music you seek.
Occasionally Gleanntan tiptoes where it could just as readily
high kick its way out of the speakers, but such regrets are few and watery
in the face of a baker's dozen of fine tunes and songs that rekindle the
spirit and set the compass south west.
If Sliabh Luachra was looking for ambassadors for the new millennium,
she couldn't have found a better trio to spread the word. O'Keefe is dead.
Long Live O'Keefe. Siobhán Long 11 out of 12