Shanty - Ancient Lament - Old M'Ginty's Borry - Full with Booze - Fiddler's Jig
Writing easy-ish pieces for the technically challenged players amongst us is an acquired art that some never manage to do successfuIly. Here we have a nice five-movement suite that pulls it off.
The suite opens with a C major Shanty in 6/8 and 3/4 which only once goes past fret 5 and yet manages not to sound hackneyed in the process. Ancient Lament is in the relative minor and is resonant and folk like with a haunting melody. Old McGinty's Barry returns to the home major for a very Irish sounding melody with a lovely swinging lilt to it, and yet it too manages never to go higher than the fifth fret! Full With Booze is marked Lazily, and has a lurching dotted rhythm destined to make you think of the old guy staggering home from the pub, having had one or two too many. The final Fiddler's Jig is a Con Moto C major usually in two voices and is a very effective and convincing conclusion to the suite whilst remaining quite easy to play throughout.
Definitely this is a little gem of a set and is a delight from end to end; lots of fun to play and no doubt super to listen to. Top class printing as always with no page turn problems.
Chris Dumigan (Classical Guitar Magazine)
