Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Vincent Kennedy: Music of People and Place (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Vincent Kennedy: Music of People and Place (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:23:47 minutes | 865 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Navona

Composer Vincent Kennedy and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra bring MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE to Navona Records. Selected from some of his most beloved works and inspired by the people, mysticism, mythology, history, and landscapes of his native Ireland, this album is a rich collection of 19 stories, each appealing to the human spirit with sublime performances by the superb musicians of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Where The North Wind Blows, in which the orchestra is joined by Mark Redmond on uilleann pipes, is one of the few — if not the only — concert pieces written for Bb Uilleann pipes. This powerful music contrasts in character with Colmcille’s Lament, heard first with orchestra and then in a new textural layer with broad raw emotion at the critical close of the album. From IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN is the deeply moving Brothers to Arms, the reverential Arbour Hill, and the hauntingly evocative Grá (Love) played beautifully by Mia Cooper (Violin) and Yue Tang (Cello).

Kennedy’s most performed work, Meditation on the Book of Kells, and a musical memorial to John F. Kennedy are here. And for the child and dreamer in all of us – The First Steam Train in Ireland, The Accidental Tango, and The Birth Cloak.

Much like the Irish library’s stained-glass window into which the melody from A Sunny Day In Fethard-on-Sea was honorably etched, MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE is an inspired orchestral body of work painted in a series of kaleidoscope slides, each as elegant as the last, offering a rewarding and enriching musical experience for the listener.

In this album, MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE, my wish is to bring the listener into the world of my orchestral music; music has been a faithful friend: always there to uplift, distract, color, and comfort. I write music to enrich life and take my inspiration from many sources and possibilities, like a bee using the nectar of different flowers to produce a unique honey. Apart from Where the North Wind Blows and John Fitzgerald Kennedy – The Torch Still Burns Brightly, all the tracks come from larger multi movement symphonic works whose titles I have also given. The titles, with the year of composition in parenthesis, are largely self-explanatory, and only where I feel it is absolutely necessary have I added more text. Sometimes my titles are in Irish with the English translation beside it in parenthesis. I hope you find something positive for yourself in my music. — Vincent Kennedy

Tracklist:
01. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Where the North Wind Blows (05:58)
02. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: A Sunny Day in Fethard-on-Sea (03:05)
03. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Meditation on the Book of Kells (03:37)
04. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Abbeys, Monks and Knights Templar (04:23)
05. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Trasna go Dál Riada (Over the Sea to Dál Riada) (02:08)
06. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: John Fitzgerald Kennedy – The Torch Still Burns Brightly (07:17)
07. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Grá (Love) (05:26)
08. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Raising the Flag (03:18)
09. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Brothers to Arms (06:36)
10. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Valour and Discipline (03:39)
11. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Arbour Hill (06:28)
12. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: An Capall Bán (The White Horse) (03:16)
13. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: If You Have to Ask You Will Never Know (03:39)
14. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: The First Steam Train in Ireland (03:18)
15. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Colmcille’s Lament (04:44)
16. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: The Birth Cloak (05:02)
17. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Tír na nÓg (Land of Eternal youth) (05:08)
18. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: The Accidental Tango (02:48)
19. Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond – Kennedy: Colmcille’s Lament – Solo Uilleann Pipes (03:50)

Personnel:
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Mark Redmond, uilleann pipes
Vincent Kennedy, conductor
Mia Cooper, solo violin (track 7)
Yue Tang, solo cello (track 7)

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