John Elwes & Yoshio Watanabe
Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies
ALM Records, ALCD-1090, 2007
Thomas Moore (1779-1852) wrote romantic nationalistic Irish poetry, in the English language. He set them to old airs, many of them lifted from Edward Bunting's published colletions of the ancient Irish harp music.
Thomas Moore's songs are usually dismissed as worthless by anyone seriously interested in historical or traditional music. However this excellent and hard-to-find Japanese CD is a bit different. The acclaimed Irish-based tenor John Elwes, one of the best singers on the international classical scene, has approached Moore's work not as sub-traditional drawing room fluff, but as serious 19th century art music. On this CD he sings from an early printed edition and is accompanied by a notable historical keyboardist, Yoshio Watanabe, who plays Sir John Stevenson's (1761-1833) original piano arrangements on an original early 19th century fortepiano.
The CD includes well-known songs such as 'The Last Rose of Summer' and 'The Harp that Once Through Tara's Halls'. There are also two very fine piano solos, two nocturnes by Irish composer John Field (1782-1837).
The CD was recorded in Kanagawa, Japan, and is released on a Japanese record label; as far as I can tell it is not available in Europe or America except here at the Emporium. The booklet and commentary (by Barra Boydell) is bilingual in Japanese and English.
It is extremely interesting to hear this music presented in proper historical style. This recording is highly recommended to anyone interested in historical Irish music, or in the relationship between the old indigenous traditions and their modern echoes. Highly recommended.
£13 + £1.50 (UK only - select for overseas postage) £2.50 (Airmail within Europe) £3.50 (Airmail outside Europe)