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Patrick Mangan: Farewell to Ireland |
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(White Label Records, WLCD 001; Patrick Mangan is the star pupil of New York’s Brian Conway, whose album First Through the Gate is one of the highlights of recent years. By this point, Mangan is an experienced hand in the recording studio despite his age, having made guest appearances on two of John Whelan’s albums and on Brian Conway’s aforementioned gem. On Farewell to Ireland, he makes his headlining debut, paying homage to the obvious influence of his teacher. His playing is strongly within the New York/ Sligo style—bouncy, ornamented, and driving. His technical command of the instrument is impressive, particularly noticeable on his rendition of The Banks, a hornpipe in Eb that lesser fiddlers run from but which Patrick plays with aplomb. His treatment of the reels and jigs is great stuff; in control and clean, but exciting and with interesting variations. The slow pieces—the air Ammran na Leabhar and O’Carolan’s Loftus Jones—didn’t grab my soul, and the last track of the album&$150;Reel Angst–just confused me. After an album’s worth of straight-ahead jigs and reels, I couldn’t figure what I was supposed to do with this slowed-down, swirling-gaelic-mists-of-antiquity deal. But it’s just one track out of many, and the over-all balance is quite good. Mangan is joined by a host of excellent players, keeping the different tracks varied and interesting. On accompaniment are Eamon O’Leary, Greg Anderson, Tom Wetmore, Brendan Dolan and Robbie Harris, and joining Patrick on melody are Brian Conway, John Whelan, Mat Darriau, and Eliot Grasso. We’ll be hearing more, I’m sure, from Patrick Mangan in years to come, and this album augurs well for it. |
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© Brendan Taaffe, 2005. All Rights Reserved. |
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