This is difficult, this being a gift, and I don't like commenting unless I can do so favourably, but this will not start that way. First, I do not recommend this recording to fledgling whistle players. The technique is, how to put it, 'naive', meaning not 'mature', and overly melodramatic, (sentimental???) It has that ring of someone who started with the recorder or the silver flute in school and never made it past those preconceptions and that usually poor and incomplete introductory training (without private lessons) to true understanding... What does the general school teacher know about the music anyway, eh? God bless them, it's a hard job and so much is expected of them. I will fully admit my biases, and the first that made me cringe was the REVERB. Why must some people think it is good to sound like you're playing in a tiled lavatory or a stairwell? So I have to get past that first.
The lack of understanding of this player doesn't end with the music here, I also believe it show a lack of understanding of the instrument and it's history. My problem has never been with the recorder or silver flute, but with the technique usually associated with them. An example of that technique, and some folks like it, where 'classical' training meets tin whistle, and it is not being given in comparison with the artist on this CD, is James Galway ~ and for a narrower example, the way he plays "The Belfast Hornpipe". While some may like it, I can't stand it. It sets me on edge. I feel he butchers it. So maybe now you'll understand where I'm going with this. What are some of the elements of such a 'classically influenced' technique ~ trills, running trills, and tonguing a thing to death, chopping the hell out of it with excessive use of the tongue, like a bodhran player with only one way of beating his drum. Vibrato is another, but fortunately this CD hasn't much. With this recording the tongue is repetitive and rather than used for interest is everywhere and non-stop. It chops the music up, as does also the use of trills and slurs. That is probably what gets me most, those damned trills, everywhere. So, another bias admitted to. I just don't think they fit the music.
I'm alright with the choice to use or incorporate rolls or not into you playing, some folks do and some folks don't. That's cool, but the general treatment of the tunes here, meaning the choices of decoration, just don't feel right. That's my perspective on it, and I fully admit it is coloured ~ coloured by a hell of a lot of careful and appreciative listening, etc... I do have my favourite whistlers, including someone who uses the tongue like the bellows of a concertina, with variety and interest ~ Micho Russell, God bless his soul... The list could be endless, Mary Bergin is there and many more, recorded and not. I have also heard some really fine Scottish players too. This guy's OK, and he is probably a nice and generous soul, but I woudn't want to see his style taken as the way to go, or to see it spread...
Alright, having been wordier on a recording here than ever before, guilt, setting all my biases aside, it is an enjoyable mix of tunes, a nice variety. One thing I can't understand is how he can refer to track 21 as "Cape Breton Jigs". It ain't there in the versions or the technique. But, again, putting aside my hate of abused reverb and those damned trills, and the clumsy tonguing ~ I enjoy the mix of tunes and it has its jolly qualities. I wouldn't have purchased this myself, but I'm glad I've gotten it as a gift. It is a pleasant enough listen, in small bits, but there are many other recordings of the whistle I'd choose first, including those I've purchased as gifts for others... Actually, I think he might do a better job on hornpipes than Mr. Galway does? But there's no way I'm going to subject myself to that again anytime soon to make a fair comparison...
Hey, in favour of the recording, trying to forget those irritating bits, in his own fashion he can play the whistle, if more like a school recorder, and I have gotten some smiles from it.
There are also many solo recordings I would also recommend, by artists like Micho Russell, & the Russell family, Josie McDermott (whistle & flute), Mary Bergin, Donncha O'Briain, Sean Ryan, Vinnie Kilduff, and for that closely related bigger cousin there's the flute playing of John McKenna, the Broderick brothers, Desi Wilkinson, Frankie Kennedy (Altan), Billy Clifford (Sliabh Luachra) and many others... Here and there you'll also find a track by Festy Conlon or John Doonan too, well worth a listen...
Aye Ceol, I used to see & hear Alex at festivals around Scotland in the early 70s, when I was just getting interested in actually learning to play Trad & by that stage I was already familiar, 1st hand, with the Irish style of playing the Tin Whistle, so I just assumed that this was some sort of Scottish style.
Then I heard Kenny Hadden playing! Fine Flute player that Kenny is, I just wish he would get the finger out & make a *Scottish Music on the Tin Whistle* CD!
There are loads of brilliant pipers throughout Scotland who can fairly knock out amazing tunes on a Whistle, but I always get the feeling that their Piping ornamentation inevitably colours their style, while Kenny just has a brilliant but much more natural Whistley way with a Scottish tune. Now admittedly his style of playing owes a lot to his Irish musical influences, but I do believe more Scottish musicians should hear it, for his playing has none of the harsh monotony which, I seem to remember for me, characterised Alex Green's style.
So if ever there was to be such a thing as a Scottish style of Whistle playing, then I wouldn't steer people in the direction of an Alex Green recording. I'd say, go & listen to Kenny Hadden, ......... for me he has it nailed.
I've heard some find whistle and flute playing out of Scotland, but I'm that removed from it I can't list any names right now. Where is Kenny when I need him ~ in Australia!
If you haven't access to a good teacher or some decent recordings of Scottish flute or whistle, and here my biases will be showing through again, get, as one option, some recordings from Cape Breton or Prince Edward Island, their take on Scottish Music, or source tracks from Donegal or Fermanagh (Frankie Kennedy of Altan fame is a fine wind player for ear training), and emulate what you hear with your whistle or flute. Exercise your ears, and you could give Alex Green a listen too for comparison... The bubble, humour and uniqueness of Micho Russell's whistle playing is in great part due to him having learned his music from a source other than another whistle player ~ from his concertina playing mother, and he emulating the tina with his whistle...
Congratulations Ceolachan: your comments about Alex Green and his album are the most sanctimonious and pompous I've read in quite some time. Truly, truly irritating.
Stick to your ivory tower and your glorious isolation and let the rest of us enjoy some genuine, heartfelt and powerful traditional music. Alex lives and breathes the music he plays and is the real deal, not some clasically trained automaton.
"Ceolachan" is perfectly entitled to his opinion, as are you. I don't agree with all he said above, and will add some comments in due course. It would be more constructive of you to tell us why you think he's wrong, and what you yourself find appealing in Alex's playing instead of resorting to cheap abuse.
"Whistle O'er The Lave O't" ~ Alex Green, whistle
Ross Records, 2001
Turriff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
http://www.rossrecords.com/
This was recieved as a gift...
? ~ more later...?
# Posted on April 1st 2007 by ceolachan
Apologies to Mr. Green ~
This is difficult, this being a gift, and I don't like commenting unless I can do so favourably, but this will not start that way. First, I do not recommend this recording to fledgling whistle players. The technique is, how to put it, 'naive', meaning not 'mature', and overly melodramatic, (sentimental???) It has that ring of someone who started with the recorder or the silver flute in school and never made it past those preconceptions and that usually poor and incomplete introductory training (without private lessons) to true understanding... What does the general school teacher know about the music anyway, eh? God bless them, it's a hard job and so much is expected of them. I will fully admit my biases, and the first that made me cringe was the REVERB. Why must some people think it is good to sound like you're playing in a tiled lavatory or a stairwell? So I have to get past that first.
The lack of understanding of this player doesn't end with the music here, I also believe it show a lack of understanding of the instrument and it's history. My problem has never been with the recorder or silver flute, but with the technique usually associated with them. An example of that technique, and some folks like it, where 'classical' training meets tin whistle, and it is not being given in comparison with the artist on this CD, is James Galway ~ and for a narrower example, the way he plays "The Belfast Hornpipe". While some may like it, I can't stand it. It sets me on edge. I feel he butchers it. So maybe now you'll understand where I'm going with this. What are some of the elements of such a 'classically influenced' technique ~ trills, running trills, and tonguing a thing to death, chopping the hell out of it with excessive use of the tongue, like a bodhran player with only one way of beating his drum. Vibrato is another, but fortunately this CD hasn't much. With this recording the tongue is repetitive and rather than used for interest is everywhere and non-stop. It chops the music up, as does also the use of trills and slurs. That is probably what gets me most, those damned trills, everywhere. So, another bias admitted to. I just don't think they fit the music.
I'm alright with the choice to use or incorporate rolls or not into you playing, some folks do and some folks don't. That's cool, but the general treatment of the tunes here, meaning the choices of decoration, just don't feel right. That's my perspective on it, and I fully admit it is coloured ~ coloured by a hell of a lot of careful and appreciative listening, etc... I do have my favourite whistlers, including someone who uses the tongue like the bellows of a concertina, with variety and interest ~ Micho Russell, God bless his soul... The list could be endless, Mary Bergin is there and many more, recorded and not. I have also heard some really fine Scottish players too. This guy's OK, and he is probably a nice and generous soul, but I woudn't want to see his style taken as the way to go, or to see it spread...
Alright, having been wordier on a recording here than ever before, guilt, setting all my biases aside, it is an enjoyable mix of tunes, a nice variety. One thing I can't understand is how he can refer to track 21 as "Cape Breton Jigs". It ain't there in the versions or the technique. But, again, putting aside my hate of abused reverb and those damned trills, and the clumsy tonguing ~ I enjoy the mix of tunes and it has its jolly qualities. I wouldn't have purchased this myself, but I'm glad I've gotten it as a gift. It is a pleasant enough listen, in small bits, but there are many other recordings of the whistle I'd choose first, including those I've purchased as gifts for others... Actually, I think he might do a better job on hornpipes than Mr. Galway does? But there's no way I'm going to subject myself to that again anytime soon to make a fair comparison...
Hey, in favour of the recording, trying to forget those irritating bits, in his own fashion he can play the whistle, if more like a school recorder, and I have gotten some smiles from it.
# Posted on April 2nd 2007 by ceolachan
Recommended compilations ~ the whistle:
Here are some excellent compilations of different players I recommend ~
"Irish Whistles"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/2433
"The Totally Traditional Tin Whistle Tape"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/826
"Fluters Of Old Erin: Flute, Piccolo And Whistle Recordings Of The 1920's And 30's"
http://www.thesession.org/recordings/display/1582
There are also many solo recordings I would also recommend, by artists like Micho Russell, & the Russell family, Josie McDermott (whistle & flute), Mary Bergin, Donncha O'Briain, Sean Ryan, Vinnie Kilduff, and for that closely related bigger cousin there's the flute playing of John McKenna, the Broderick brothers, Desi Wilkinson, Frankie Kennedy (Altan), Billy Clifford (Sliabh Luachra) and many others... Here and there you'll also find a track by Festy Conlon or John Doonan too, well worth a listen...
# Posted on April 2nd 2007 by ceolachan
Aye Ceol, I used to see & hear Alex at festivals around Scotland in the early 70s, when I was just getting interested in actually learning to play Trad & by that stage I was already familiar, 1st hand, with the Irish style of playing the Tin Whistle, so I just assumed that this was some sort of Scottish style.
Then I heard Kenny Hadden playing! Fine Flute player that Kenny is, I just wish he would get the finger out & make a *Scottish Music on the Tin Whistle* CD!
There are loads of brilliant pipers throughout Scotland who can fairly knock out amazing tunes on a Whistle, but I always get the feeling that their Piping ornamentation inevitably colours their style, while Kenny just has a brilliant but much more natural Whistley way with a Scottish tune. Now admittedly his style of playing owes a lot to his Irish musical influences, but I do believe more Scottish musicians should hear it, for his playing has none of the harsh monotony which, I seem to remember for me, characterised Alex Green's style.
So if ever there was to be such a thing as a Scottish style of Whistle playing, then I wouldn't steer people in the direction of an Alex Green recording. I'd say, go & listen to Kenny Hadden, ......... for me he has it nailed.
# Posted on April 2nd 2007 by Ptarmigan
I've heard some find whistle and flute playing out of Scotland, but I'm that removed from it I can't list any names right now. Where is Kenny when I need him ~ in Australia!
If you haven't access to a good teacher or some decent recordings of Scottish flute or whistle, and here my biases will be showing through again, get, as one option, some recordings from Cape Breton or Prince Edward Island, their take on Scottish Music, or source tracks from Donegal or Fermanagh (Frankie Kennedy of Altan fame is a fine wind player for ear training), and emulate what you hear with your whistle or flute. Exercise your ears, and you could give Alex Green a listen too for comparison... The bubble, humour and uniqueness of Micho Russell's whistle playing is in great part due to him having learned his music from a source other than another whistle player ~ from his concertina playing mother, and he emulating the tina with his whistle...
# Posted on April 3rd 2007 by ceolachan
Alex Green: Get Real
Congratulations Ceolachan: your comments about Alex Green and his album are the most sanctimonious and pompous I've read in quite some time. Truly, truly irritating.
Stick to your ivory tower and your glorious isolation and let the rest of us enjoy some genuine, heartfelt and powerful traditional music. Alex lives and breathes the music he plays and is the real deal, not some clasically trained automaton.
# Posted on May 22nd 2008 by bonafide
Take it easy...
"Ceolachan" is perfectly entitled to his opinion, as are you. I don't agree with all he said above, and will add some comments in due course. It would be more constructive of you to tell us why you think he's wrong, and what you yourself find appealing in Alex's playing instead of resorting to cheap abuse.
# Posted on May 22nd 2008 by Kenny
Kenny is right - it was only an opinion, there is no need to get mean about it.
Hey Kenny - pity we didnt get to have a tune and the national - I was really looking forward to it!
# Posted on May 23rd 2008 by bb Cruella de vil