Vincent Kennedy: Music of People and Place Vincent Kennedy, RTÉ Concert Orchestra with Mark Redmond

• Vincent Kennedy (b. 1962):
• 1Kennedy: Where the North Wind Blows05:58
• 2Kennedy: A Sunny Day in Fethard-on-Sea03:05
• 3Kennedy: Meditation on the Book of Kells03:37
• 4Kennedy: Abbeys, Monks and Knights Templar04:23
• 5Kennedy: Trasna go Dál Riada (Over the Sea to Dál Riada)02:08
• 6Kennedy: John Fitzgerald Kennedy - The Torch Still Burns Brightly07:17
• 7Kennedy: Grá (Love)05:26
• 8Kennedy: Raising the Flag03:18
• 9Kennedy: Brothers to Arms06:36
• 10Kennedy: Valour and Discipline03:39
• 11Kennedy: Arbour Hill06:28
• 12Kennedy: An Capall Bán (The White Horse)03:16
• 13Kennedy: If You Have to Ask You Will Never Know03:39
• 14Kennedy: The First Steam Train in Ireland03:18
• 15Kennedy: Colmcille’s Lament04:44
• 16Kennedy: The Birth Cloak05:02
• 17Kennedy: Tír na nÓg (Land of Eternal youth)05:08
• 18Kennedy: The Accidental Tango02:48
• 19Kennedy: Colmcille's Lament - Solo Uilleann Pipes03:50
• Total Runtime01:23:40

Info for Vincent Kennedy: Music of People and Place

Composer Vincent Kennedy and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra bring MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE to Navona Records. Selected from some of his most beloved works and inspired by the people, mysticism, mythology, history, and landscapes of his native Ireland, this album is a rich collection of 19 stories, each appealing to the human spirit with sublime performances by the superb musicians of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Where The North Wind Blows, in which the orchestra is joined by Mark Redmond on uilleann pipes, is one of the few — if not the only — concert pieces written for Bb Uilleann pipes. This powerful music contrasts in character with Colmcille’s Lament, heard first with orchestra and then in a new textural layer with broad raw emotion at the critical close of the album. From IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN is the deeply moving Brothers to Arms, the reverential Arbour Hill, and the hauntingly evocative Grá (Love) played beautifully by Mia Cooper (Violin) and Yue Tang (Cello).

Kennedy’s most performed work, Meditation on the Book of Kells, and a musical memorial to John F. Kennedy are here. And for the child and dreamer in all of us – The First Steam Train in Ireland, The Accidental Tango, and The Birth Cloak.

Much like the Irish library’s stained-glass window into which the melody from A Sunny Day In Fethard-on-Sea was honorably etched, MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE is an inspired orchestral body of work painted in a series of kaleidoscope slides, each as elegant as the last, offering a rewarding and enriching musical experience for the listener.

In this album, MUSIC OF PEOPLE AND PLACE, my wish is to bring the listener into the world of my orchestral music; music has been a faithful friend: always there to uplift, distract, color, and comfort. I write music to enrich life and take my inspiration from many sources and possibilities, like a bee using the nectar of different flowers to produce a unique honey. Apart from Where the North Wind Blows and John Fitzgerald Kennedy – The Torch Still Burns Brightly, all the tracks come from larger multi movement symphonic works whose titles I have also given. The titles, with the year of composition in parenthesis, are largely self-explanatory, and only where I feel it is absolutely necessary have I added more text. Sometimes my titles are in Irish with the English translation beside it in parenthesis. I hope you find something positive for yourself in my music. — Vincent Kennedy

RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Mark Redmond, uilleann pipes
Vincent Kennedy, conductor
Mia Cooper, solo violin (track 7)
Yue Tang, solo cello (track 7)

Vincent Kennedy
is a composer and conductor from Dublin, Ireland, who received his earliest music education in CBS Westland Row, Dublin. He won the under 18 category in the Feis Ceoil national music competition at age 12, and two years later won the adult Feis Ceoil. He was performing trumpet with the National Symphony Orchestra by the age of 19, and holds a master’s degree from Dublin City University in humanities (music and composition). Kennedy’s life experiences have defined his musical purpose, and he describes it as thus; “Music has been a faithful friend: always there to uplift, distract, colour, and comfort. I write music to enrich life and take my inspiration from many sources and possibilities, like a bee using the nectar of different flowers to produce a unique honey.”

RTÉ Concert Orchestra
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor Stephen Bell; Associate Principal Conductor Gavin Maloney; Associate Artist Guy Barker; Conductor Laureate Proinnsías Ó Duinn; Leader Mia Cooper) is part of RTÉ, Ireland’s national public service multimedia organization. Founded in 1948, the orchestra specializes in eclectic programming and has performed with Luciano Pavarotti, Lang Lang and Cleo Laine, and Irish artists, including Sinéad O’Connor and Imelda May. A recent series of 1990s dance music events won the IMRO radio Outstanding Achievement Award for 2018, and the RTÉ CO is now collaborating with Jenny Greene on a new set. The RTÉ CO has performed in seven Eurovision Song Contests and holds numeral film credits, including Stephen Rennicks’ score to Room and Brian Byrne’s Golden Globe-nominated score to Albert Nobbs.

Mark Redmond
has gained a reputation as a performer on the uilleann pipes in a traditional sense, but also as one who melds with a wide range of genres. He performs and records regularly with both the National Symphony and RTÉ Concert Orchestras. Within this context, he has featured in multiple live television and radio broadcasts for many historic occasions, including The Papal Mass, Phoenix Park, 2018; The State Commemoration for the centenary of the Easter Rising, Arbour Hill, 2016; The Eucharistic Congress, Croke Park, 2012, and the State Visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland, 2011.

This album contains no booklet.