DCD34329-CD

Songs from the North of Ireland: Dorothy Parke | Joan Trimble

Limited Edition: 300 CDs available worldwide

Following the success of their partnership in Calen-O: Songs from the North of Ireland, Carolyn Dobbin and Iain Burnside return to Ulster’s rich but undervalued musical heritage with a programme of songs by two twentieth-century women, all but a few of them premiere recordings.

Dorothy Parke is well known for her songs for children but is revealed here as a much more wide-ranging composer, steeped in the folk melody and poetry of Ireland. Joan Trimble, an accomplished concert pianist, left behind only a handful of published songs but a small trove of manuscripts, including her opera Blind Raftery, written for BBC Television in 1957, two arias from which complete this journey of discovery.


"Parke’s songs are charming, brief, simple, supple and salon-sweet. They’re attractively lyrical and in no way combative. Rather,they’re the product of an imagination that’s effortlessly communicative. She cleverly varies her piano patterns, whether striding confidently or suffused with Irish folkloric spirit ... Though they’re as concise as Parke’s, Joan Trimble’s songs employ a more sophisticated palette. In The County Mayothe songs are varied, and contrasted strongly, whether athletically fiery, full of bardic melancholy or exuding a rich folkloric sense, complete with exuberant flourishes. It’s an exciting and concise example of her art ... Carolyn Dobbin and Iain Burnside explore the song’s charms – whether winsome or jaunty – with a proper appreciation of theirstatus. Nothing is over-inflated, but neither do they play up the faery elements either. Pianist Ingrid Sawers accompaniesTrimble’s The County Mayo very adeptly. The recording in Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh has been sensitively balanced and as in their last album, Calen-O, Dobbin and Burnside are adroit explorers of Ulster’s recent musical past"

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Release Date: 18 October 2024
Catalogue No: DCD34329
Total playing time: 1:02:20


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PREVIEW

Joan Trimble:The County Mayo

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Carolyn Dobbin during recording sessions in Greyfriars Kirk

Album Booklet

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