June 27, 2021
IF O'HARE CAN PLAY RAPHSODY IN BLUE...:
The King's Alchemist (Willowhayne Records): This collection of British music is what they should be playing over the speakers at Heathrow Airport (Norman Lebrecht, 6/27/21, The Critic)
The crowning glory here is Sally Beamish's The King's Alchemist (2013), an evocation of James IV who led the Scots to terrible defeat at Culloden and was the last British king to die in combat. Beamish perceives James as a cultured man, deserving of a musical epitaph. Her tribute her is both apt in its bagpipe hints and attractive in its lyrical momentum. Jonathan Martindale, Lucy Nolan and Peggy Nolan play with stunning poise that takes my breath away. Why don't they play this music over airport speakers?
Posted by Orrin Judd at June 27, 2021 12:00 AM