The Curious Bards – Indiscretion (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Curious Bards – Indiscretion (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:22 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical, Celtic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Following on their impressive debut album [*Ex]tradition*, the Curious Bards—an early-music ensemble founded by violinist Alix Boivert in 2015—continue to explore material from the Scottish and Irish folk traditions preserved in 18th-century publications. This new collection of airs and dances is a chance to discover more of this fascinating repertoire, in which the distinctions between serious music and popular inspiration need no longer apply.

The reels, jigs, strathspeys, airs, hornpipes, and more on this album suggest a folk release, but that is not quite so; the music is performed from printed notation and taken from publications of Scots and Irish “national” music in the 18th century. It is performed on a mixture of classical and folk instruments. Certainly, the distinction is, in some sense, an artificial one; it doesn’t matter whether this is classical or folk music. This is the second such release by The Curious Bards, and either one might indeed be interesting to folk musicians, who may find that some of the tunes have survived the centuries in oral tradition. So have some of the performance practices; the pieces are mostly grouped into sets that may accelerate as they go along. Some of the vocal pieces are in Gaelic, others in English. To the classical side, published arrangements of folk music seem to have been an important part of 18th century musical life, and this repertory has been little explored; that makes this release by The Curious Bards valuable. Most of the music is anonymous, but there are a few by the Irish national composer Turlough O’Carolan, but the biggest reason to hear Indiscretion is that the music is thoroughly enjoyable. There is great variety in theme in the vocal pieces, from playful to sad, and rhythmically in the instrumental pieces, from the jigs to little variation sets to the spiky strathspeys. The performances are brisk and not precious, the singing by various vocalists unmannered. Anyone from either side of the folk-classical divide will enjoy this release. – James Manheim

Tracklist:
01. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Jigs “Robbin Powers Fancy – Miss Douglas Brigton’s Jigg – Cosey’s Jigg” (04:03)
02. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Strathspeys “Miss Clementina Sarah Drummond of Perth – The Marquis of Huntley’s Farewell – Mr Moore’s Strathspey” (02:36)
03. The Curious Bards – O’Carolan: Song “Mable Kelly” (04:16)
04. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Reels “Miss Rose of Tarlogie’s Reel – Colonel Mc Beans Reel – Mr Reid’s Reel – Anonymous” (03:45)
05. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Air & 2 Slip Jigs “Huntingtone Castle – I have a Wife o’ my ain – Hey me Nancy” (05:27)
06. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Lament “Daughters Lament” (02:15)
07. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Song “The Tears of Scotland” (04:00)
08. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Airs “And thou wert my own thing – John Hays Bonny Lassie” (04:09)
09. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Reels “The Perthsire Hunt – Mrs James Erskine of Kirkwall’s Reel – Mrs Gillespies Reel” (02:16)
10. The Curious Bards – O’Carolan: Air “Miss Noble” (06:18)
11. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Song “By Moonlight on the green” (03:39)
12. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Variations “Jackie Latin” (02:04)
13. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Reels “The Honorable Miss Rollo’s Reel – Drunken Friday – Kelo House” (03:04)
14. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Variations “Fy Gar” (04:18)
15. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Reels “Scots Lament by Mr Oswald – Miss Preston Ferntons Reel – Miss Johnstons Reel – The Countis of London’s Reel” (04:56)
16. The Curious Bards – O’Carolan: Song “Fanny Dillon” (03:38)
17. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Hornpipes “Morepeth Rant – The Cruskeen Lawn – N° 2” (03:30)
18. The Curious Bards – Anonymous: Song “Old Towler” (03:00)

Download: