A group called the Harp Consort will be playing a concert at a local theatre.
From what I have read, they play a lot of medieval music, but on the current tour they are performing Irish music. Specifically the work of O’Carolan.
It is rare to see any form of Irish music here without going to Tokyo or one of the other major cities.
I enjoy medieval music, but also I’m wary of classical musicians ‘interpreting’ Irish tunes.
Does anyone know of this group? Are they worth seeing?
Mukade
Gosh, I wish I could go, but Japan is rather a long way from Cornwall. Just go with an open mind - after all, anyone who plays O’Carolan has to to do a lot of interpreting as we have only the melody lines. I wouldn’t mind betting that the irascible old boy would be delighted to hear his tunes played with so many different interpretations were he to be around today. The Irish group Dordan successfully blends ITM with a classical element (they have a harp player and they do play O’Carolan). Enjoy!
Steve
Thanks, Steve.
After reading reviews on the net, I went out and bought the tickets.
I was just scared of having a ‘Riverdance’ experience. 
We need go no further than the late, great Mr. Derek Bell to hear some wonderful interpretations of O’Carolan.
http://www.ananda.org/inspiration/streaming/ram/derek.ram
Mukade
Not entirely true: Bunting collected from the last harpers and he did (although notoriously edited) include harmonies.
Can’t beat the harping of Paul](http://www.clarechampion.ie/clch/www/index.asp?magpage=1&issid=27&issdate=Friday%2C+21+January+2005&issarch=0&topcatid=260&catid=&id=2715%22%3EPaul) Dooley though.
I stand corrected. I’ve never seen the harmonies in a book - you say they were notoriously edited - does that mean they’re not to be trusted as authentic?
Steve
Bunting claimed to have written what he heard at the Belfast harp festival.
Breathnach makes the case in Folk Muisc and Dances of Ireland that:
In effect what Bunting did was to alter the melody to fit what he considred to be correct and suitable harmonies
see pp 104-107 in FMDoI
Here’s a scan of one of the tunes in Bunting’s Ancient Music of Ireland:
Another way of putting it is that Bunting translated the tunes for piano. The tuning of the old harpers was not quite what was expected as “proper” to the English drawing room, which was Bunting’s target market. As Peter noted, there is a lot of argument as to how trustworthy Bunting’s manuscripts are, as some of the harmonies he wrote down were fine for piano, but not even possible on Irish harp.
One good thing I think that Bunting did (besides preserving this music) was, in later reprints, he noted how much faster Irish airs were supposed to be played than what had become the norm from from his earlier printings. To do this he added the correct metronome settings (which can be a b**** to translate into today’s beats per minute in software).
djm