Composer: Dan Trueman
Performer: Michaela McDonagh, Laura Gill, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Treasa Ní Mhiolláin, Dan Trueman, Seán Ó Lionáird, Peadar Ó Lionáird, Páidí Ó Lionáird, eighth blackbird, Gallicantus
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Cedille
Release: 2018
Size: 3.43 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Olagón
Part 1:
01. Pillow Talk
02. Introductions
03. Marbhan’s Shadow
04. Being Only a Dame
05. A Queen Bee
Part 2:
06. Stirrings I
07. For Eons and Eons
08. Stirrings II
09. Motet for Medhbh
10. Níl Aon Ton-Ton
11. Stirrings III
12. You Know It’s a Salmagundi
13. Stirrings IV
14. Marbhan and Guaire
Part 3:
15. Pillow Talk Reprise
16. Restless Rest
17. Ululations I
18. Zeus to My Demeter
19. Only on Medhbh
20. Ululations II
21. Reeling Reels
22. Ailíll
23. The Book of Lamentations
Olagón: a Cantata in Doublespeak is the newest album from multiple GRAMMY Award-winning chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird. The project finds the innovative new-music sextet collaborating with vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird of the Irish supergroup The Gloaming, Princeton-based composer-fiddler Dan Trueman, and Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon. A modern retelling of an ancient Irish epic, Olagón depicts — not without irony and humor — a privileged “power couple” mired in envy, greed, and adultery, descending into criminality and addiction as Ireland’s “Celtic-Tiger” economy collapses in the early 21st century.
Trueman’s score combines elements of the traditional music of Ireland, Norway, and America with the raw urgency and sonorities of contemporary classical music. Muldoon’s text interweaves verses in English and Irish Gaelic, seasoned with word-play and wit.
Ó Lionáird, whom The Guardian calls “one of the most dramatic voices in contemporary music,” sings the text in the unique and highly ornamental Irish style known as sean nós. The production incorporates the gorgeous young voices of students of acclaimed Irish sean nós singer Treasa Ní Mhiolláin, who also makes an appearance.
Eighth Blackbird is “one of the smartest, most dynamic contemporary classical ensembles on the planet” (Chicago Tribune). Olagón is the new-music sextet’s ninth Cedille Records album. Four of their previous recordings won Grammy Awards in the Best Small Ensemble/Chamber Music Performance category.