Wow!
I am still catching my breath. What an amazing experience that was last night! If there is any way you can ever do it, go see Mary Bergin live.
The concert took place in Stamford, Connecticut, in what they call an intimate venue: sixty seats at most, filled by a warm and ethusiastic audience. And the night got off to a good start right away. As I walked in and bought my ticket, someone said to me, “So, you brought your whistle.” Well, it’s hard to hide even a high D sticking out of your jeans pocket. Then he said, “Are you Bloomfield?” Again I couldn’t deny it. (I may be short, obese, and balding, but I swear next time I’ll wear sunglasses.)
That’s how I met brownja and it was great. We chatted a bit and during intermission he let me try his Cillian O’Briain Tweaked (sweet, quiet, sensitive). Nothing like meeting a fellow whistler & chiffipler…
We got two seats in the first row after we had established, by carefully counting microphones, where the Godess Herself would sit. So we were only seven feet away from her and could stare at her fingers. More about those fingers a bit later.
The music was phantastic. A mix of tunes and songs, and Mary also played a slow air. There were familiar tunes sets like Colonel Fraser/Ril Gan Anim (from Feadoga Stain 1), Micho Russel’s/Laurel Tree/Woman of the House (from FS 2), a lovely set with the Cliffs of Moher in it (and a tune called Hello, How Are You? if I remember that one correctly). They also did a set of ripping-fast Kerry Polkas with Joe on button box. I recognized about half the tunes that Mary played, and I even know a few of them. To hear her do justice to something that you’ve been butchering all along is an awe-inspiring experience. Let me stress the purity and beauty of her music. You can hear Mary’s love and respect for the music she plays.
The same can be said for Joe & Antoinette McKenna. Antoinette is Mary Bergin’s sister, of course, and the vibe between the musicians was great. Antoinette played a harp accompanyment to practically every tune, and sang some lovely songs: Fil-a, fil-a (Return, return), Fear an Bhatha, Call and the Answer, and a couple of others. Joe did some pipe solos, one of them was a lament he wrote for his teacher, Leo Rowsome, after which he launched into a couple of Willie Clancy tunes. He also did the Groves, which I understand is something of a show piece on the pipes.
Some interesting observations in light of recent threads: Apart from the harp accompanyment, Mary & Joe played quite a bit of harmony. Not on the dance tunes, where at most Joe would play the lower octave, while Mary took the upper in the B part (e.g. on Contentment is Wealth/Moncooin). But for the songs, there was lots of two-whistle harmonizing. Very lovely. Mary plays right-over-left, and turns he hands down, so that the tip of her right forefinger comes down almost vertically to cover the top hole. I saw her half-hole, of course. She covers the sixth hole frequently to stabilize the whistle. She did vent the high D (oxx xxx) on her D whistle when she played a slow air, but did not do so when she played a song air on her Generation Bb.
Ahhhh… What whistles did she play? Here’s the list: John Sindt high D, Pat O’Rioridan C and low F, old Copeland A (the first A ever made by Copeland and given to Mary by Bob Pegritz. Yup, it’s always him 
), a Generation Bb. When I spoke to Mary during intermission, I saw her bag with lots of red-top Generations, D & Eb sticking out. We chatted about whistles a bit and when it comes to Generations, she said she always plays the red ones. She finds that the nickle/blue ones get slippery and are not as consistant or reliable. She said she adores her O’Riordians (how do you spell that bleeping name?), especially the low F. 
Seeing them close up, Mary’s whistle are all covered in bits of tape, across a hole or under the mouth piece (packing tape looks a bit odd on a Copeland). Joe McKenna, by the way, played an Overton low A and Copeland low D. The low A whistle duet on Overton and Copeland (on the Contentment is Wealth/Moncooin set) is absolutely beautiful because of the tonal differences between those whistles.
I was interested to find that practically the most common variation that Mary played during the dance tunes was bring up the end of a part, a phrase that often descends down to the bell note, up an octave. I think she does it in part to avoid the weaker low notes being lost. Also, on her CDs, I don’t recall her “pushing” long notes at the end of phrases. Very expressive thing that, and it reminded me of Micho Russel’s playing. Oh, and not a single hornpipe all night. Enough rolls to make your head spin, but not a single cran.
A last note. Mary’s fingers: It is one thing to hear her playing on the Feadoga Stain albums. I accept a lot that comes out of a CD player, “hey, that’s neat.” But when you sit there in front of Mary Bergin and you see the fingers moving, hear the clockwork rolls, and feel the irrestible pulse and beat and the strength and subtlety in the music, that is another matter. Live you hear a squeak or two, you hear the breath, there is a misunderstanding in a transition, a temporarily clogged fipple. It just brings home the fact how truly awesome Mary’s playing is technically and musically.
Wow.
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-07-12 12:24 ]
