“Tuned Up” - Brendan Mulholland, flute, Brendan Hendry, fiddle, and Paul McSherry, guitar.
I got the CD today and am listening to it now for the second time. It’s that good - full of fire, delicate beauty, and youthful exuberance and energy. This is great stuff. The flute playing in particular is fantastic. Strong, rhythmic, great clear tone and power. I love the punch in the second part of The Belfast Traveler.
I thought Tattered Jack was very fast but I hear the tune (and most jigs) at a leisurely pace. Ah, and the boys’ll slow down as they get older. Great transition into Happy to Meet. It’s great to hear just the flute and the fiddle dancing together on this track, without any accompaniment. It’s a lovely track. And I love the way the fiddle and flute come into the jigs on the third track at a slower pace. Beautiful playing. Very subtle harmonies – and a few originals - in limited quantity, which is as it should be.
I won’t bore anybody with track-by-track comments. This is great music, without fancy double-tracking or overdubbing (well, just once, on track 8 - fiddle harmonies on an old-timey sounding original waltz) or thumping bodhran or drum kit. It is hard to find fault with this CD. It got excellent reviews* but I wonder why it hasn’t received more recognition. This is ITM as ITM ought to be played. Playful, intense, varied, and sensitive.
Thanks guys.
http://www.irishdemocrat.co.uk/non-book-reviews/tuned-up/
http://www.clarepeople.com/wordpress/?p=511
I have no interest, other than as an appreciative player and listener, in this CD. Tuned Up is available from Copperplate Distribution.
Thanks for the review. It’s been on my list but some other things have sneaked in before it. I’ll aim for that next. And then there’s the upcoming Harry Bradley/Michael Clarkson one … the fun never ends!
Thanks again.
Hi,
I like the cd very much. Especially the last track/set. If only I had a flute with g#-key yet… Now I play it in G instead of A. Wonderfull recording all in all! I higly recommend it.
Cheers,
Moritz
this one is, as I like to say, a “tasty” CD.
The jigs are also verygood stylistically.
i’ve nabbed a few tunes from it already into my own repetoire.
it’s a cracker CD, nice tunes, very well played!
Got my CD yesterday courtesy of the two Brendans! Thanks very much! I’m really enjoying listening to it. Great choice of tunes, fantastically played with brilliant arrangements. Well done lads!
Three great guys as well, by the way.
Paul
the beauty of this CD is that it is…to borrow a word from cocusflute…“accessible.”
the description is perfectly suited here.
I’m really enjoying this CD. I got it on Itunes so no liner notes. Anyone have info on track two: The Lost Ring?
Hi everybody here, thanks for the kind words its very encourageing. 
Hey Peter I wrote out sleve notes for the cd but we ran out of time and they didnt get to print, since you asking about the tune The Lost Ring. Interesting story behind that one, my then fiancee and wife now Aisling had her hen night in Amsterdam and lost her enguagement ring to which she was very upset, but after alot of prays to St. Anthony the ring was found a week later and made its way back to her, what else could I do only compose a tune about it.
For all the flute annorecks ( myself included ) all E flat tracks were done with Kevin Crawfords E flat Grinter except for track 5 which was done on my old E flat Sam Murray, I have since purchased a new E flat Grinter which is fantastic. The D track was done on my D/C Grinter flutes. I asked a few local flute players to tell me what they thought was the E flat Murray track and not one could tell the difference, and to be honest only I knew it was I would have trouble telling them apart also.
Cheers
Brendan Mulholland