New Classical Tracks: From Beethoven to "Danny Boy"

00:00

0

listen

[0]

New Classical Tracks - Extended John O'Conor interview - 3/17/10

"It's not classical music," O'Conor clarifies, "but it's classic Irish music, Irish Classics. It's music I've known forever, and it's music I remember from the various clubs where people get up and sing songs, I used to do that when I was younger. I have a terrible voice, so I've always had to sing my music at the piano. These are songs that I grew up with and I love. I played a lot of tin whistle when I was young, so I knew a lot of these traditional tunes from that."

The idea of making this recording came from O'Conor's friend and executive producer Lisa Schiff. From there, O'Conor was introduced to conductor and arranger Mitch Farber who stretches the boundaries by putting his own stamp on some of these familiar melodies including the Irish classic "Danny Boy."

"He dares to sort of make the piano in a Rachmaninoff sort of way without making it Rachmaninoff, without intruding on the actual melody with the orchestration," O'Conor explains, "He gives it a very lush orchestration, but it works very well. It's a way of listening to 'Danny Boy' that gives it more power and strength in a way."

O'Conor insisted on making this recording with the Irish Chamber Orchestra led by his friend Fionnuala Hunt. They had a great time making music together, "Even in some of the reels, the medley reels," says O'Conor, "Some of the orchestra members who are Irish wanted to hoot and holler the way you would at a normal dance, because they were having such fun making the recording."

In "The Last Rose of Summer," the oboe and flute exchange the nostalgic melody which is then handed off to the piano. O'Conor says this is a real tear-jerker, "I think for any Irish American who hears "The Last Rose of Summer," in particular in the olden times. I was very young when I used to see people go out to what they'd call the Irish wake, at Dublin airport when people were emigrating to the U.S. And the rest of the family would be there in a flood of tears thinking 'I'll never see them again.' They didn't realize that air traffic was going to bring them back within ten years along with their sisters, cousins and aunts and everybody would be staying with them in America. There was such a tradition of people leaving Ireland and never seeing their home again, so something like 'The Last Rose of Summer' is one of those Thomas Moore songs that's so famous in Ireland that you can't think of it without it being Irish."

"The Coulin" is another ancient Irish melody, often heard on solo violin. O'Conor says this piece, named for a songbird, is a personal favorite, "It can be one of the most extraordinary things. It's just so haunting. Somehow it can evoke all sorts of emotions, whether it's sadness whether it's loneliness, whether it's wishfulness, whether it's wistfulness, it's what you make of it yourself. For me, "The Coulin'" is one of the great Irish melodies of all time. It's up there with 'Danny Boy,' the 'Londonderry Air.' It's such a beautiful melody."

One of my personal favorites on this recording is "The Rocky Road to Dublin." In this arrangement Mitch Farber throws in an Irish frame drum for added percussion to keep pace with O'Conor's musical acrobatics at the piano, "Yes, yes and also the bodhran in the background, the tack-a-tee, tack-a-tee in the background, that sort of thing. It's great fun. Let's say Mitch tries to tax my digital dexterity quite a bit every so often. Since you can I'll ask you to do a bit more. He really is terrible," O'Conor chuckles.

"The wonderful thing about Irish music is it will make you dance, it will make you cry, it will make you everything in between as well, and I think that's there on the CD," O'Conor explains. "All great music touches your soul."

Gallery

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

1 of 1

Next Slide