If you preorder the CD you get BOTH the CD and the digital album download.
The CD also comes in a stunning 3-fold digipack cover, containing:
- an epic 36-page booklet with dialogues between the musicians, discussing their relationship and the inspirations for each chosen piece.
- gorgeous photography by Elly Lucas
- you INSTANTLY receive one album track download: Track 3: "Waltzska For Su-a", a duet with fellow cellist Natalie Haas.
Includes unlimited streaming of Dialogues
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Maeve is extraordinary. Her skills on the harp are breath-taking and mesmerising: punchy and rhythmically dramatic one moment, then pure and melodically beguiling the next. Based in New York, she is one busy lady, running her own band tours as well as being a part of the Silk Road Ensemble and Arooj Aftab’s Vulture Prince Ensemble.
Ever since the Edinburgh International Harp Festival commissioned Maeve to write a piece for Mr. McFall’s Chamber for string quartet and harp, we have been friends. When Maeve discovered that I also play the musical saw, she immediately wrote a duet for harp and saw. Although this duet would perhaps have been the perfect tune to record here, this album is more about giving the cello a voice, so we started afresh. We began by looking to her Irish heritage and Maeve was drawn to the idea of playing around with Loftus Jones, as it felt like there was a fitting nod to classical music within it.
This was the second duo collaboration to go into the studio. As luck would have it, when I got in touch with Maeve, she said she was about to come over from New York to visit her folks in Edinburgh. We seized this opportunity and booked the studio right away. We exchanged musical ideas via email and, for the first time in my life, I found myself delving into the digital worlds of notation, arranging and recording.
When we met in person to rehearse, it was one of the most exciting times for me. All those challenging hours in front of a computer screen were all-at-once transformed into real, human interaction and soulful musical expression. It is thanks to Maeve that this formative process was so enjoyable and really set the ball rolling for the album.
MAEVE:
Loftus Jones is a piece by the blind Irish harp player, Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) that was recorded by Edward Bunting in his collection from the playing of Edward Fanning. We have a great surplus of documented Irish harp music from the Baroque era thanks to Bunting's dedication to the recording of this unique repertoire. A “Planxty” is a word that O’Carolan often attached to the surname of a lively melody for one of his patrons. It is a form of salute, coming from an Irish word meaning ‘praise piece’, or perhaps from a Latin word meaning to ‘strike the harp’.
Often, I hear O’Carolan played in a more militant, rhythmically rigid fashion, but I first learned this tune from my aunt, Kathleen Loughnane, whose light interpretation breathed such buoyancy into the wonderfully floral melody. We've tried to carry that lightness forward in our cello and harp arrangement of the tune, playfully tossing the melody and harmony between the instruments in a forward-moving and exuberant style.
credits
from Dialogues,
released December 2, 2022
IRISH PLANXTY: Loftus Jones by Turlough O’Carolan, trad arr. M Gilchrist & S Lee
Maeve Gilchrist – harp
Su-a Lee – cello
Produced by Su-a Lee & Andrea Gobbi
Engineered by Andrea Gobbi - all tracks recorded, mixed & mastered by Andrea Gobbi at GloWorm Recording, Glasgow, except additional recording for track 2 by Rimmert van Lummel).
Su-a Lee is one of Scotland’s most versatile, adventurous and charismatic cellists - she's worked with icons Eric Clapton,
Jack Bruce (Cream) and Peter Erskine (Weather Report) She works extensively in the UK classical and folk music scenes and is a founding member of the highly innovative Mr. McFall’s Chamber and a long standing member of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Assistant Principal Cello)...more
My brother-in-law Jeff Babko is an internationally renowned keyboard player. This album pushes the envelope on funk, fusion and organ trio jazz originals with some cathartic, scintillating results. Su-a Lee
supported by 92 fans who also own “O'Carolan (Feat. Maeve Gilchrist)”
So pleased to see your second album on its way. I’ve just about worn a hole in your first CD because I love it so much. Cannae wait due the whole thing to appear on 4th May. The taster track is AWESOME!! 🙏 floradouglas
