Christmas in an Irish Castle

Track Listings

1. Deck the Hall
2. The New-Mown Medow
3. Christmas in the Castle
4. Plearaca ra Ruarcah
5. The White Horse
6. O'Rourke's Revel Row
7. Mainistir na Buille
8. Ban-Chraic Eireann (The Abby of Boylel)
9. S Uanbo Aera (Irish Mummer Carol)
10. The Deer Cry / Abbots Bromely Horn Dance
11. St. Patrick's Brestplate
12. The Holly and the Ivy
13. Pwt ar y bys (Butter Please)
14. The Wren
15. Wexford Carol
16. Tiarna Mhaigh Eo
17. Is e Fainne an Lae (Dawning of the Day)
18. The Blind Harper
19. Si Beag, Si Mor
20. There's a Big Ship

See all 31 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Join us for an Irish Revels! Delight in Christmas carols, traditional Irish songs, jigs, reels, master musicians on harps, fiddles, drums and Irish pipes, stories told by the hearth -- all celebrating an Irish Christmas and Winter Solstice. Rejoice with the voices of men, women and children singing to greet this holy and joyous time. Join us as we welcome the return of light from darkness.

Christmas in an Irish Castle, Music, Produced by the California Revels, Jerry O'Sullivan , Cheryl Ann Fulton , Patrick Ball , Liz Carroll , Distant Oaks, Christmas Revels Chorus Shay Black

Average customer rating: GREAT CD Beautiful Old World Christmas Music Beautifully played! Not Your Father's Christmas CD!

Christmas in an Irish Castle ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Similar Items: The Christmas Revels: In Celebration of the Winter Solstice Rose and Thistle: English and Scottish Music Victorian Christmas Revels The Revels Collection - Celebrations of the Winter Solstice Sing We Now of Christmas ASIN: B00005S6BJ Release Date: 2001-10-24

Tracks:

1. Deck the Hall
2. The New-Mown Medow
3. Christmas in the Castle
4. Plearaca ra Ruarcah
5. The White Horse
6. O'Rourke's Revel Row
7. Mainistir na Buille
8. Ban-Chraic Eireann (The Abby of Boylel)
9. S Uanbo Aera (Irish Mummer Carol)
10. The Deer Cry / Abbots Bromely Horn Dance
11. St. Patrick's Brestplate
12. The Holly and the Ivy
13. Pwt ar y bys (Butter Please)
14. The Wren
15. Wexford Carol
16. Tiarna Mhaigh Eo
17. Is e Fainne an Lae (Dawning of the Day)
18. The Blind Harper
19. Si Beag, Si Mor
20. There's a Big Ship
21. I Saw Three Ships
22. Banish Misfortune
23. Seoithin Seotholo
24. Port na bPucai
25. O Love in All Your
26. The Butterfly
27. Gower Wassail
28. Winter
29. Drive the Cold Wind Away / King of the Faries
30. Dona Nobis Pacium (Give us Peace)
31. Sussex Mummers Carol

Album Description

Customer Reviews:

GREAT CD.......2007-02-23

Beautiful Old World Christmas Music.......2004-12-11

Beautifully played!.......2003-11-03

Not Your Father's Christmas CD!.......2001-11-26

I learned from the jacket and accompanying booklet that "revels" are theatrical performances of song, dance, storytelling and drama that evoke community. This CD is a revels honoring both the sacred (Christmas) and the secular (Winter Solstice). As a concept recording it has as its setting the annual Christmas feast of the 16th century Irish chieftain, Brian O'Rourke. So beware, those who mistake the opening track ("Deck the Halls"): this is definitely not your father's Christmas CD!

The second track (Irish reels) invites us into O'Rourke's castle to enjoy the celebration with his family and friends. Through a natural mix of narration, poetry and music we're swept "inside" within the first 10 minutes of listening. We'll stay several days, experiencing a variety of musical selections, stories and moods. And we'll somehow manage to see how this magical time of the year has, for Christians and pagans both, become sacred. More importantly, my time in the castle reminds me of the "real" time I spend each December holiday period: parts joyous and sad, raucous and serene, political and personal, and almost always child sensitive. Like the CD's own concluding piece (`Sussex Mummers' Carol'), we all hope to feel both happy and grateful after spending time with family and friends. We'll have lots to reflect upon when the celebrations conclude.

I don't know much, at all, about early (16th - 19th century) Irish history - the period covered in this presentation. Yet `Christmas in an Irish Castle' doesn't demand such knowledge; it carries me along through the world of traditional Irish (mixed with some Welsh and English) ritual songs, jigs, reels, hymns, chants, airs, poems and even a lullaby. I encounter St. Patrick and the `Fairy Folk' while enjoying much singing and celebrating by children and adults, some dancing, and even some sad and melancholy references to `Dear Ireland.' All of this imagery and feeling is evoked through the use of spectacular vocal and instrumental storytelling. Furthermore, while listening to this CD I came to appreciate the importance of the harp, the whistle and the uilleann pipes in traditional Irish music - instruments capable, here, of touching every holiday emotion I knew I had within me.

Several elements make this a CD I will listen to again and gift to others. To begin, the overall production and placement of material works well; i.e., I really do imagine that I'm witnessing this castle revels (though I relied heavily on the accompanying lyrics and booklet information along the way). Too, I recognize that some of the elements skillfully manipulated for production (e.g., combining the Abbots Horn Dance tune with the narration on track 10 and inserting the stick dance interlude in the traditional carol on track 29) helped to keep me enthusiastically connected with the story and the music. Finally, I remain impressed with the ways in which so many different performers (both solo and group) - from dancers, to choruses, to instrumentalists, to vocalists - have been so successfully melded into the overarching goal of the project, itself.

To be sure the CD does contain traditional Christmas carols nestled within its larger castle tale, yet I was particularly drawn to the more haunting pieces found on this recording. `Dawning of the Day' (track 17) and `The Monastery of Boyle' (track 7) both feature Jerry O'Sullivan on uilleann pipes, while `Tune of the Pookas' (track 24) features Jared White on the whistle. Perhaps it's me, but each holiday I've spent with family and friends has included moments when I find myself feeling introspective, tentative, and not-exactly-celebratory while everyone around me seems overcome with merriment and mirth. These more melancholy pieces moved me in ways that proved even stronger than the uplifting feelings I had when listening to the children's' chorus offerings -- perhaps, because of the mesmerizing draw of Irish pipes and whistle.

The track that touched me most deeply, however, was track 26 - `The Butterfly." Featuring harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton and Jerry O'Sullivan on the whistle, I found myself carried away by the musical imagery of transformation and rebirth - images central, indeed, to both Christmas and the Winter Solstice. Fulton's harp led me to easily imagine the emergent butterfly and, when musically joined by O'Sullivan's whistle, my own imaging morphed, like the chrysalis, into a happy flight musically symbolized by what had become, without my paying attention to it, a light Irish slip jig. I was indeed wishing for the coming of spring while listening to this evocative piece.

In all, I found this to be an informative and captivating CD. As a newcomer to such music I'm especially glad for the accompanying booklet. As someone who enjoys the end-of-year holidays with family and friends, I can feel the same enthusiasm in the cumulative tracks of this CD. As someone with a maternal Irish grandmother and many Irish friends, `Christmas in an Irish Castle' brings me that much closer to them all.

Average customer rating: A wonderful group and a great CD!

The Titan Manufacturer: Dorian Recordings ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Folk | Styles | Music General | International | Styles | Music General | Celtic | International | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Similar Items: Tribute Craigie Dhu ASIN: B000001Q6S Release Date: 1994-04-26

Tracks:

1. In The Csitari Mountain Foothills/Storm Warning
2. Jerusalem Ridge
3. French Schottische/One Summer's Morning/10th of December/Polka Suwanna From Rzeszow/Dick's Maggot...
4. Nova Scotia January/Waltz From Cape Breton
5. Traditional Bolivian/Columbito Tecumano
6. Mazurka Limousin/Bouree
7. The Athol Highlanders
8. Over The Stone/Maid From The Parish Of Penderyn
9. Shuffle Creek/The Old Brown Case/The Reconciliation
10. Jesu Babe Divine/Ganivelle/Jabadaw/The Titan

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful group and a great CD!.......2001-01-31

Track Listings:

1. Classic Women's Short Stories
2. Classics For Lovers
3. Di Lorenzo: Dracula, The Seduction
4. Dvorák: Requiem/Symphony 9
5. Dvorak: Symphonies 7 & 9 / Kubelik, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
6. Exile
7. First Love [Import]
8. For flute & guitar
9. Forbidden Dance
10. François Le Roux ~ Joseph Kozma Chansons ~ Les Feuilles Mortes

Track Listings

track listings

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