No, not the ornamentation 
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anybody a clue which CD of CRAN contains most tracks with the Bb set of Ronan Browne? I have “Na Ceannabháin Bhána” from a compilation and like to hear more.
Thanks!
- Gabriel
Here’s a really great one! 
Lover’s Ghost
It has some great singing in it too. It’s Crans 2000 recording.
Andreas
Ronan’s Harrington sets are in B, not B-flat. It’s worth checking out the concert recording on uilleannobsession.com’s radio page of Ronan’s WCSS recital. lovely playing on the Harrington B.
I’m not aware of any Cran recordings with pipes in B-flat, but I don’t have all the Cran recordings ATM.
Cheers,
Bill
I certainly know that the recording I mentioned is in Bflat, I can play along with my Bb whistle and the pipes don’t sound pitched down. Unfortunately I don’t know on which album “my” recording is, so no possibility for comparing…
Gabriel, I am wondering about your “Bflat” whistle, since we’ve had this sort of discussion before! Have you checked it with a tuner?
Please note which recording this is (title, track, etc.) and what, if anything, the liner notes say about the pipes played on the track; I can then report about the set a bit more.
Bill
My whistle is a selftweaked Generation Bb and the tuner says that Bb stands rock-steady with A=440Hz.
The only recording I have from Cran is “Na Ceannabháin Bhána” which I found on a “celtic music” compilation relatives gave me one or two years ago.
As said, I can play along with the tune; they also use a whistle in it and the sound perfectly blends with my ol’ Generation, just like it would be the same whistle.
After a short internet search it seems that the track is contained in Cran’s 2000 album “Lover’s Ghost” recommended by Andreas, but Amazon says it’s called “Na Ceannabhain”, so they probably misspelled it when they added it to their catalogue.
The track is #2 on this album.
The tuning on the track could have been tweaked too. Though I hear Ronan does have a Bflat chanter, I don’t know any details about it (it’s not a vintage one, apparently). Maybe it’s a Hunter, not sure.
(Of course the B chanter on the first album with Peadar is also a Hunter, rest of the set is Harrington, but his recent work has been with a Harrington chanter)
Bill
He does have a Hunter Bb. It’s a 7 key cocobolo.
Track two of Lover’s Ghost: Na Ceannabhain Bhana/The Black Rogue/Willie Clancey’s Secret Jig. The booklet accompanying this cd says that Ronan Browne is playing a flat set of Denis Harrington pipes made around 1830. It also says these pipes are pitched two whole tones below the modern concert pitch. This would be B and not Bb. Here’s where I’m confused, because when I try to play with the tune on my Burke whistle, which is tuned down to B, it just doesn’t go. So I can believe Gabriel when he says he can play with it on his Bb whistle.
I’m confused. 
Andreas
One whole step down would be C, but the next whole step would get you to Bb, 'cause B is only a half step down from C. Right?
Correct.
I have the album and checked it against my Bb flute and Bb whistle and it’s in Bb not B.
There are Bb whistles and flutes on several of the tracks with the flat pipes, and I remember Desi Wilkinson saying he has a Bb flute so it’s safe to say there was no tweaking of the tuning on these tracks.
Sorry Brad, but I am not so sure.
The Harrington sets are definitely in B. That’s not to say that the Harry drones couldn’t be brought down to Bflat, but the chanters, no way.
I’ll ping Ronan about it if you want.
Bill
OK, ok… now my curiosity has got the better of me and I simply must know the facts behind this exchange of opinions.
I second that. 
Sheesh, I dunno, but it seems odd to think that they would have tweaked the pitch on the recording. Considering that flutes in B are not very common, and that the track that the liner notes say was recorded with a Bb flute (Killarney Boys of Pleasure, which is played on Bb and Eb flutes) is not pitch-adjusted, and finally that a live tape I have of Cran has the pipes and flute playing together in Bb too, I really think this is a Bb set, or maybe a modern Bb chanter with the Harrington B drones and regs tuned down (if that’s feasible)? Whoops – have to edit that last bit because I just took a run through the tape and my memory was wrong: Ronan is only playing his concert-pitch pipes in those concerts (a concert from 1996 and another from 2000 that were broadcast on Radio-France).
So here’s one possibility: Ronan could have played a B set in the studio, and then they pitch-adjusted it down to Bb so Desi could play along on his Bb flute. That’s entirely possible if they don’t in fact use the flat set in concert!
I don’t believe in these pitch-down stories…the pipes sound so original, and when I pitch them around with BestPractise it sounds…pitched.
Much as I hate to spoil the fun…
I just spoke to Ronan about these tracks. So - pretty much all of the theories have some truth to them. The chanter on these tracks is a Bflat Hunter, and the pipes (drones and regs) are Harrington, in B. The drones and regs were pitch-shifted (via analog methods, thus relatively artifact-free) down to Bflat from B.
Bill
BTW, while we’re in the clarifications and errata sheet arena, the pipes are three semitones below concert pitch (not two whole tones) and were probably made in the 1850’s rather than 1830 as the liner notes seem to state.
Forgive my ignorance…
Whew!!!
Thanks Bill, I’ll be getting a full nights’ sleep tonight!!!