Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn review: A piping hot musical marvel

A fine line can unite or divide our capacity for glorying in our musical history and for making it our own. Piper Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn negotiates the subtle twists and turns of this path with impressive agility on Reggish Paddy.

His tastes are eclectic, his discipline unerring. Ó Duinnchinn's piping style is characterised by a meticulous, highly regulated approach, almost baroque in its clarity and definition. His tune choices are eclectic, united by his inventive interpretations and revealing sleeve notes. His surprise reading of Tá Dhá Gabhairín Bhuí is sublime, as is his fresh-faced pairing of it with the two Sliabh Luachra polkas, O'Sullivan's and O'Callaghan's.

The title is a fitting (if slightly clunky) cap-doffing to the pipes’ regulators and Ó Duinnchinn’s unstinting fealty to all the complexities of his instrument are writ large in this collection.

[ tiarnan.ie ]