Clíona Doris, concert harp

Riverrun Records

www.rvrcd.co.uk

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On her first solo CD, Clíona Doris performs contemporary harp music from Britain and Ireland. The CD includes world premiere recordings of works by two of Ireland's major compositional voices, Brian Boydell and Ian Wilson, as well as Benjamin Britten's Suite for Harp, and music by William Mathias and Sir Hamilton Harty.

 

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'A lovely collection from a scrupulously attentive young Irish harpist'

Born in the north of Ireland, Clíona Doris graduated from Queen's University, Belfast in 1992, continued her studies under Susann McDonald at Indiana University and currently combines an active concert career with teaching duties on the String Faculty of Dublin's Royal Irish Academy of Music. Her programme is immaculately dispatched and wide-ranging. I particularly enjoyed Brian Boydell's sequence from 1970 entitled A Pack of Fancies for a Travelling Harper a tribute to the blind Irish bard Carolan, it's five movements are full of strong ideas and intriguing sonorities. Next comes the delectable Suite that Britten wrote in 1969 for Osian Ellis, followed by Ian Wilson's in blue sea or sky, an imaginative evocation commissioned and premiered by Cliona in 2000, and yet another impressive addition to the fast-growing output of this fine Belfast-born composer. That only leaves Hamilton Harty's Spring Fancies (a fragrant diptych dating from 1911) and WIlliam Mathias's idiomatic and characteristically communicative Santa Fe Suite (1988).  September 2003, Gramophone

September 2003, Gramophone. Reviewed by Andrew Achenbach
© Gramophone Publications Ltd, 2003

 

"This young Belfast harpist has returned from the USA and is beginning to make a name for herself here. Her recent performances at the Vogler Spring Festival confirmed her excellent technique, marvellous sound-range and deeply-felt musicianship. This debut CD is cleverly chosen, avoiding the 19th century virtuoso pieces. Britten's Suite for Harp (1969) and William Mathias's Santa Fe Suite (1988) demonstrate her ability to handle tricky scores. Three Irish works are included: Brian Boydell's delightful 'A Pack of Fancies', Ian Wilson's evocative 'In Blue Sea or Sky', and 'Spring Fancies' by Harty (1915). In all, a disc of unusual but highly attractive music, superbly played."

Sunday Tribune - Ireland

 

TRACK LIST

Brian Boydell (1917-2000)
A Pack of Fancies for a Travelling Harper, Op. 66 (1970)
1. Prelude 2.08
2. Caoin 5.07
3. Impetuous Impromptu 2.55
4. A Dream of Ballyfarnon 4.36
5. Toccata 1.57

Benjamin Britten, 1913-1976
Suite for Harp, Op.83 (1969)
6. Overture 2.38
7. Toccata 1.30
8. Nocturne 3.15
9. Fugue 1.13
10. Hymn (St Denio) 5.06

Ian Wilson, 1964-
in blue sea or sky (2000)
11. in blue sea or sky 10.38

Hamilton Harty, 1879-1941
Spring Fancies: Two Preludes
12. Vivace, molto grazioso e dolce 5.43
13. Con brio ma non presto 4.14

William Mathias, 1934-1992
Santa Fe Suite (1988)
14. Landscape 2.35
15. Nocturne 5.48
16. Sun Dance 3.32

in blue sea or sky