The Curious Bards

Program: #23-26   Air Date: Jun 26, 2023

To listen to this show, you must first LOG IN. If you have already logged in, but you are still seeing this message, please SUBSCRIBE or UPGRADE your subscriber level today.

This French ensemble specializes in music of the Irish and Scottish Baroque; this, their second recording, includes song settings by Turlough O’Carolan.

NOTE: All of the music on this program comes from recording on the Harmonia Mundi label with the Curious Bards. It is CD # HMM 905.327. For more information: https://thecuriousbards.com/home/

Since 2014, The Curious Bards has united five musicians, who love Gaelic and Celtic traditional music. These five musicians had an early music education and have studied in prestigious institutions in Lyon, Paris and Basel. Their musical paths have integrated traditional Irish and Scottish practise for many years.

The ensemble claims to offer an innovative and creative insight to this repertoire guided by extensive research. They are “bards” of modern times, eager to discover and expand their knowledge, and always exigent with their practise.

The Curious Bards were chosen, in 2015, as a Young Ensemble in Residency in la Cité de la Voix in Vézelay. They have also benefited, since 2016, from the project EEEmerging carried out by the Ambronay Festival, which supports young early music ensembles under the Creative Europe program. Since 2020, The Curious Bards receives the support of Caisse des Dépôts, main sponsor.

They recorded their first album, which has been released in October 2017 under the label 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.

  1. Anonymous: Jigs "Robbin Powers Fancy - Miss Douglas Brigton's Jigg - Cosey's Jigg"
  2. Anonymous: Strathspeys "Miss Clementina Sarah Drummond of Perth - the Marquis of Huntley's Farewell - Mr Moore's Strathspey"
  3. O'Carolan: Song "Mable Kelly"
  4. Anonymous: Reels "Miss Rose of Tarlogie's Reel - Colonel MC Beans Reel - Mr Reid's Reel - Anonymous"
  5. Anonymous: Air ; 2 Slip Jigs "Huntingtone Castle - I Have a Wife O' My Ain - Hey Me Nancy"
  6. Anonymous: Lament "Daughters Lament"
  7. Anonymous: Song "The Tears of Scotland"
  8. Anonymous: Airs "And Thou Wert My Own Thing - John Hays Bonny Lassie"
  9. Anonymous: Reels "The Perthsire Hunt - Mrs James Erskine of Kirkwall's Reel - Mrs Gillespies Reel"
  10. O'Carolan: Air "Miss Noble"
  11. Anonymous: Song "By Moonlight on the Green"
  12. Anonymous: Variations "Jackie Latin"
  13. Anonymous: Reels "The Honorable Miss Rollo's Reel - Drunken Friday - Kelo House"
  14. Anonymous: Variations "Fy Gar"
  15. Anonymous: Reels "Scots Lament By Mr Oswald - Miss Preston Ferntons Reel - Miss Johnstons Reel - the Countis of London's Reel"
  16. O'Carolan: Song "Fanny Dillon"
  17. Anonymous: Hornpipes "Morepeth Rant - the Cruskeen Lawn - N%C2%B0 2"
  18. Anonymous: Song "Old Towler"

Composer Info

Turlough O’Carolan

CD Info

Harmonia Mundi CD # HMM 905.327