Noel Hill: Live in New York

Copperplate Mail Order » Shop » Concertina » Noel Hill: Live in New York



NOEL HILL:
Live in New York

 

 

Noel Hill from Cahera in west county Clare is a concertina player and educator who is considered the master of the modern concertina. Having been influenced by renowned exponents of Clare traditional music such as Willie Clancy, Paddy Canny, Paddy Murphy, and Peter O'Loughlin from a young age, Hill has played a central role in popularising and developing the role of the concertina in Irish traditional music today. Hill's discography includes iconic recordings with Tony Linnane (1979), I gCnoc na Graí with Tony MacMahon (1985), The Irish Concertina (1988), Aislingí Ceoil with Tony MacMahon, Iarla Ó Lionáird, with John Gibson (1993), The Irish Concertina 2 (2005), and most recently, The Irish Concertina 3: Live in New York (2017), released on the Raelach Records label.

He teaches concertina at the The Noel Hill Irish Concertina Schools in Ireland and throughout the United States, and now lives with his two children in Connemara in the Irish speaking region of southwest County Galway.

“Noel Hill is alive! Many of us know how lucky we are that he is still with us. As a friend, a father and as an example of what it means to be a good person, it makes life more bearable just to have him in our midst. As a musician, he is a soul tonic, the true master of the Irish concertina. He has absorbed everything that makes this music special and reflects it back to us. His soulful playing of the old song-airs of Ireland is the perfect introduction to his art; from the life affirming detail of his dance music to the plaintive long notes of the slow airs, and all created on a musical instrument – smaller than a shoe-box, between his hands. Through his dedication, talent, and artistry, Noel produces one of the most powerful and beautiful expressions of our culture I know. In this live recording the listeners tell you clearly of their excitement and relief that he is still playing. Thank you, Noel. There’s hope for us yet". Tony MacMahon

Audio

Track 1: The Gold Ring

Track 2: The Fisherman's Favourite

Track 3: Dr Gilbert's Reel

Track Listing

  1. The Holly Bush, Pigtown 03:30
  2. Banish Misfortune 04:07
  3. The Ladies Pantalets, The Ravelled Hank of Yarn, Seán Reid's, The Silver Spear 05:23
  4. The Foggy Dew 03:32
  5. Johnny Cope 04:12
  6. Téir Abhaile, John Mescall's, Slide for Caoimhín 04:44
  7. Planxty Davis 04:31
  8. The Collier's Reel 02:38
  9. Ó Rathaille's Grave 03:51
  10. The Gold Ring 04:32
  11. The Braes of Auchtertyre 04:27
  12. The Choice Wife, The Fisherman's 04:47
  13. Dr. Gilbert's Reel, The Road to Garrison 04:15

Also available from Copperplate Mail Order

Noel Hill: The Irish Concertina 2

Press Reviews

www.folkword.eu

Subtitled "Irish Concertina 3", this is a third solo CD in as many decades from the man who effectively reinvented the Clare concertina style. Hill is certainly among the best known Irish concertina players, who are quite numerous nowadays, and Live in New York shows him to be still one of the finest. He tackles many of the big tunes here: The Gold Ring, The Collier's Reel, Banish Misfortune and Johnny Cope each get a track to themselves, as do four slower pieces. While Noel's renditions of The Foggy Dew and O'Rahilly's Grave are strong and engaging, it's hard to avoid comparisons with the slow air collection recently released by his former set dancing partner and accordionist extraordinaire Tony MacMahon: for my money, MacMahon has the edge in this department.
Hill's dance music is unsurpassed though, every note articulated, every beat in place, melody and rhythm perfectly matched, and just a little of the mechanical noise from his pocket Wurlitzer to give that authentic feel to the music. Opening with a tribute to another great box-player, the late Finbarr Dwyer, this album includes reels, jigs, the 1745 hornpipe just mentioned, and a surprise Scottish march (from the playing of Cape Breton fiddle legend Angus Chisholm) where Noel masters the snap and swagger superbly. A great set of slides starts the Jacobite theme, another march known as Planxty Davis here continues it. There's a hint of naughtiness in The Ladies' Pantalettes and An Phis Fhliuch, a nod to other icons of the tradition in Pigtown and The Silver Spear, and a resounding finish on Dr Gilbert's and Maurice Lennon's reel The Road to Garrison. Noel Hill had an apreciative audience on the night this album was recorded, and its release as a CD will greatly extend that appreciation for a musician whose recordings are all too rare. © Alex Monaghan

Daniel Neely, The Irish Echo  “Hill’s latest is ‘live’ blockbuster” “Hill is an other-worldly player: the ornamentations and variations he brings to the dance tunes are imaginative and thrilling, his air playing is arresting, and the rhythm and lift in his music in general is as good as there is. “Live in New York” reminds listeners of the power in Hill’s music and puts it into a clean and delightfully listenable package. Lovers of the pure drop will be spellbound by this album, it is definitely one for the collection”.

Siobhan Long, The Irish Times
“Opting to follow two seminal albums (Irish Concertina 1 and 2) with a third in the series might be considered a foolhardy exploit, but it’s one that Noel Hill pursues with unadulterated pleasure. A dozen years after the release of last recording, Hill is emerging from the silence, the void, with this lightning rod of a live recording. The sound is bright, and Hill’s creative energies coarse through his richly eclectic tune choices. The spontaneity of the live performance sees him melding four gorgeous reels from Willie Clancy and Seamus Ennis with a mix of inventiveness and an abundant appetite for making music. His soulful feel for the slow air is inimitable, so that ‘Ó Rathaille’s Grave’ traces its lonesome path into the listener’s subconscious to echo long after the final note has sounded. The pure drop indeed”

Paul Keating, The Irish Voice
Hill back and better than ever…he made the humble little instrument cool and classy and, thankfully, many more brilliant concertina players, male and female have followed the well-chosen path he helped create for them”

 

 

mpd_my_post_viewed: 2853
mp_post_post_viewed: 1101
mp_post_week_viewed: 10
mp_post_view_time: 2024-03-25

Price: £13.99

Loading Updating cart...

People who bought this item also bought


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.