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Washington,
DC
The
Washington Post
FROM
THE NSO, A TANGY IRISH STEW
By
Joseph McLellan
Monday, December 2, 2002, Page
C05
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| Two
of Ireland's most popular musicians, fiddler
Eileen Ivers and vocalist Mary Black,
joined the National Symphony Orchestra
and conductor Marvin Hamlisch for "A
Celtic Evening" in this past weekend's
pops programs at the Kennedy Center. The
Friday concert, in what Hamlisch called
"our big salute to Hanukah,"
had a few items with a Welsh or Scottish
flavor, including some stirring sounds
from a highland piper. But the accent
was primarily Irish. |
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| Besides
accompanying the soloists, the versatile
NSO played the kind of orchestral pops
items usually heard around St. Patrick's
Day, such as Leroy Anderson's lilting
"Irish Suite," a movement from
Hamilton Harty's "Irish" Symphony
and Percy Grainger's arrangement of "The
Londonderry Air." But the music
that had the capacity audience leaping
to its feet and clapping in unison was
Black's crystal-clear, deeply emotive
singing and -- even more -- Ivers's incredible
fiddling. |
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| Ireland's
musical traditions are ancient and their
influence has been widespread. Both soloists
reached back into that tradition for part
of their material, but both would endorse
a statement once made by Black: "In
Ireland there's an openness about music
that allows you to step outside of categories."
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| Black
began her career as a folk singer, and
her brief appearance with the NSO included
a memento of those origins -- an old ballad
about a wife waiting for her husband to
return from the sea. But she also sang
contemporary material. Her show-stopper
was one of her signature tunes, "Columbus."
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Ivers
plays two violins, a standard acoustic
one and another that is electrified. She
may be the world's fastest fiddler, and
she used this skill effectively, but she
also is a versatile musician, at home
in a variety of idioms and alert to the
links between the popular music of Ireland
and America. Her band included guitar,
bass, percussion, uilleann pipes, flute
and vocalist Tommy McDonnell, who also
plays harmonica and cajoles the audience
into singalong mode. This ensemble is
adept in a variety of styles, and their
music included not only traditional jigs
and music from the baroque era but Latin-flavored
numbers and the quintessentially American
"Lost Train Blues," with train
imitations by the fiddler, percussion
and harmonica.
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Still,
Irish music is Ivers's specialty and she
performs it with panache, solo or in ensemble,
in the spotlight or in accompaniment.
She brought on a small troupe of Irish
step dancers, accompanied them stylishly
and later danced a few steps herself while
still fiddling. In the grand finale,
she went out into the audience and walked
up and down the aisles, greeting patrons
while spinning out notes at a milea minute.
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