KENNY MATHIESON finds Ireland’s Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin in characteristically creative form ahead of a forthcoming Highlands and Islands tour.

IRISH PIANIST and composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin did not grow up in Irish traditional music circles, and only began to acquire an interest in the music when he arrived as a student at the University of Cork and fell under the influence of Sean O Riada there.

His background had been in a mixture of classical and rock music until then, but O Riada succeeded in breaking down many of the prejudices against traditional music as old fashioned that were then prevalent in the 1960s.

Ó Súilleabháin embraced the music, and went on to find and develop one of the very few genuinely happy accommodations between the often contradictory demands of folk and classical music, with a fair leavening of jazz sensibility thrown in for good measure.

He has worked in settings ranging from solo piano to full orchestra over the years, and this concert gave a flavour of that range, albeit with the orchestra slimmed down to a string quartet, led by the Scottish Ensemble’s leader-in-waiting, violinist Jonathan Morton, with Jacqui Speirs (violin), Jennifer Christie (viola) and Kevin MacRae (cello).

The combination of Ó Súilleabháin, flautist Niall Keegan, singer and bodhrán player Sandra Joyce, and the quartet first came together last year in Skye, with enabling support from Iomart Cholm Cille (The Columba Initiative). They reassembled those forces for this Celtic Connections concert, and they will do so again for a Scottish Arts Council Tune Up tour of the Highlands and Islands in March 2005. I will certainly be back for a second helping.

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“Ó Súilleabháin’s secret lies in the way he has created what is virtually a new idiom from the confluence of his sources”

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The pianist began the concert with two sets of solo piano pieces, including Irish harp tunes of the 18th century and an Irish version of the tune known as ‘Lochaber No More’ over here. His solo playing is always very satisfying, combining rhythmic assurance with melodic and harmonic invention in exciting fashion.

He was joined by the two traditional musicians for the rest of the first set. Keegan played the wooden flute of the tradition rather than the metal instrument favoured in classical music, with its coarser, earthier tone and more breathy technique. Joyce provide sharply focused percussion on the bodhrán, and an emotive example of the unaccompanied sean nos vocal style. Highlights included a surging version of Carolan’s famous ‘Carolan’s Concerto’ and – in a departure from the rest of the music – the breakneck contortions of Andy Cutting’s aptly named ‘Spaghetti Panic’.

The string quartet joined them for the second half, opening with Carolan’s ‘Eleanor Plunkett’ for piano and strings. Joyce and Keegan then joined the fray for a superb run through many of Ó Súilleabháin’s best-known arrangements and compositions. They included traditional tunes like ‘The Fox Chase’ and ‘The Parting Glass’, and Ó Súilleabháin’s own compositions, including the wonderful ‘Woodbrook’ and ‘Between Worlds’, a primer illustrating his trademark approach to ‘straight’ and ‘swing’ rhythms, as well his set of variations on ‘Ave Maris Stella’.

Ó Súilleabháin’s secret lies in the way he has created what is virtually a new idiom from the confluence of his sources, without sacrificing the essentials of either. The lack of a keyboard tradition in Irish music allowed him the freedom to create his own, and he has taken full advantage in establishing his trademark distinctive style.

Tour dates are:
Columba Centre, Islay, Saturday 5 March 2005
Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, Monday 7 March 2005
Macphail Centre, Ullapool, Tuesday 8 March 2005
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, Wednesday 9 March 2005
An Tobar, Tobermory, Mull, Thursday 10 March 2005
Àrainn Shuaineirt, Strontian, Friday 11 March 2005
Festival Theatre, Pitlochry, Saturday 12 March 2005

© Kenny Mathieson, 2005