I have been playing a couple of great Irish-inspired CDs in my car recently, and I realized that they represent a sort of a Ying and Yang approach to trad.
The Baltimore Consort's The Mad Buckgoat (linked here) has a really great selection of tunes, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, with several tunes composed by John & William Neal, and John Edward Pigot. This group doesn't use mandolins, but they do rely heavily upon the Cittern, as well as Lute, Rebec, Bandora, Recorder, Whistles, and various Viols. The Cittern carries The Old Woman's Hornpipe, and it sort of reminds me of how Peter and the Wolf uses the contra-bassoon to give you a visual of Peter's grandfather ambling along.
NYC's Whirligig released Spin in 2000 (linked here), and it has recieved many a spin in my CD player. There is a fair amount of mandolin on this CD, and they mix trad tunes with trad-inspired tunes penned by the band. They give the music a bit of a modern treatment in thier arrangements, and their use of the (non-traditional) clarinet really stands out on a few cuts.
Do any of you have either of these CDs in your library, or do you have any other CDs from these groups that you would recommend?
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