Track Listing 1. The Graf Spee / Jim Donohue's (3.37) Reels 2. Planxty Fitzgerald (3.39) Planxty 3. Percy's Pair: The Darling Girl from Clare/ Phil the Fluter's Ball (2.40) Barndances 4. Darby the Drover / I Never Did Wean Her / Munster Buttermilk (4.04) Jigs 5. Dr Gilbert's / Maudabawn Chapel / Mrs Crehan's (3.26) Reels 6. Sliabh Geal Gua (2.50) Slow Air 7. Bill Malley's / Atedaun House (3.13) Barndances 8. The Humours of Kilkenny / Gusty's Frolics / Gan Ainm (3.08) Slip Jigs 9. Love At The Endings (3.25) Slow Air 10. The Oak Tree/ The Templehouse / Kiss the Maid Behind the Barrel (4.19) Reels 11. The Locomotive / The Japanese (2.24) Hornpipes 12. Planxty O'Sullivan (2.59) Planxty 13. The Humours of Bandon / Miss Browne's Fancy (3.24) Set Dances 14. With A Love That's True (3.44) Slow Air 15. Is It Yours or Mine / The Kerry Reel / The Sligo Maid (3.58) Reels Total Time 47.31 Click on underscored titles to hear MP4 sound samples

We are delighted to announce the release of this fine album.

PADRAIC O'REILLY
Highly Strung
RRCD004
with
The Corofin Chamber Orchestra
with guests:
Damien O'Reilly (button accordion), Cyril O'Donoghue (bouzouki), Damien O'Reilly, Martin O'Malley (acoustic guitars), Graham Dunne (nylon strung guitar), Siobhan O'Donnell (bodrhan).

Padraic O'Reilly hails from Corofin in Co. Clare, the middle of three sons. Although still in his mid twenties, he has quickly developed a reputation as one of Ireland's leading traditional piano players, both as a soloist and accompanist. He was a founding member of the group Turas in 1996, and following their self titled album they were invited to the Washington Irish Folk Festival in 1997. He has also recorded with the American-based accordion player James Keane, as well as Garry Shannon and Feenish (PJ and Marcus Hernon).
His 2001 debut solo album "Down the Ivory Stairs" has been critically acclaimed, and was listed as one of the Top Ten Albums of 2001 by Aine Hensey on RTE's website. He has made numerous TV and radio appearances, the highlight being his ground-breaking piano quartet with Mícheál Ó'Súilleabháin, Geraldine Cotter and Caoimhín Vallely on the 2002 Rose of Tralee broadcast, which was beamed live via satellite to millions of viewers all over the world. He is leader of the Ennis Céilí Band, current All-Ireland 2-in-a-row champions, with whom he has recently cut a CD. He has also toured extensively with the Four Courts Céilí Band, and has also played with the Kilfenora and Tulla Céilí Bands. He has both classical and traditional training on the piano.
He is Director of the Corofin Traditional Festival, and is also widely regarded as a producer and arranger, having produced many sell-out concerts in the Glór Irish Music Centre in Ennis. He is highly sought after as a teacher and workshop tutor, and his many of his pupils are multiple All-Ireland winners.


Padraic O'Reilly

"Since his early days listening to traditional music at home in Corofin, Padraic O'Reilly has travelled on many different musical pathways, never losing direction and always remaining true to the tradition of which he is such a part. Highly acclaimed as a sympathetic accompanist, his innate sense of rhythm and his highly distinctive style guarantee a lively session. Always at one with his instrument, the piano comes to life in Padraic's hands and his reputation, as one of the finest exponents of the instrument, is richly deserved. He is one of a new generation of musicians for whom the piano is a main instrument and on this, his second solo album, his expertise on his chosen instrument is displayed with the utmost sensitivity and taste, From the opening notes of the 'Graf Spey' we are led on a musical journey through an album of immense variety. Dance music, airs and recent compositions are included as well as a number of beautiful string arrangements. The music is vibrant and colourful, full of rhythmic variation with a great blend of ' old and new.
It firmly establishes Padraic's position as a central figure in the world of traditional Irish music played on piano ".
Maire O'Keeffe 2007

also available from Padraic O'Reilly Down the Ivory Stairs
 
  * For more info, visit www.oreillypiano.com

Press Reviews


The Living Tradition
This is Padraic O' Reilly's follow-up album to his excellent 2001 recording, Down The Ivory Stairs. Why six years between albums? Well, maybe a whole CD of piano playing doesn't whet the appetite of enough customers as, say, yet another ten sets of the usual fiddle tunes.
The piano, traditionally, is mainly tolerated as an accompanying instrument but a number of piano players have taken this a step towards more of a musical duel and indeed many of the great Cape Breton pianists take their playing close to being a contact sport. The piano and a good player can add zest, drama, humour and pace, to the biggest or lightest music.
Padraic O'Reilly is that type of player and has an encompassing and varied taste as shown by the included sets. The jigs: I Never Did Wean Her, Darby The Driver, Munster Buttermilk. The barndances: The Darling Girl From Clare, Phil The Fluter's Ball, both by Percy French, Bill Malley's Barndance and Atedaun House (known in Scotland as Auchden Hoose). The stately Planxty Fitzgerald and Love At The Endings, with The Corofin Chamber Orchestra. On two of the tracks that I keep returning to, Padraic is joined by Damien O' Reilly on the button accordion. These sets are both fine slow airs, played to a "T", Steve Cooney's With A Love That Is True and Sliabh Geal Qua from the singing of Seamus Begley. A bright, engaging recording which for all of the fifteen tracks always seems to end too soon. Pace, variation, an enjoyable well-selected programme of the old and not-so-old and always great playing, makes this a CD worth making acquaintance with. Peter Fairbairn

www.netrhythms.com
Padraic, from Corofin in Co. Clare, is only in his mid-20s, yet has already gained a reputation as one of Ireland's leading piano players working in the traditional idiom. Five years after founding the band Turas, Padraic released his first solo album Down The Ivory Stairs, and now after a similar gap comes his second, Highly Strung!, which shows his then already impressive technique to have developed even further.

It's a sparkling disc, on which Padraic comes across as a traditional musician first and foremost , with the tunes themselves hitting the ear before one's attention is drawn to the display element or Padraic's technique. Unlike most pianists, whose metier revolves around the classical or jazz repertoire, Padraic isn't just “turning his hand to” traditional tunes as a diversion, but he's genuinely steeped in the tradition and this is reflected both in his lively musicality generally and his finely judged accenting in particular.

This is also a refreshing record full of tonal and textural contrasts, a key (sorry!) feature which in itself may surprise the listener who (quite legitimately) believes that the piano ain't exactly the first instrument that comes to mind when you think of Irish traditional music. On the majority of the selections, the piano may well take the lead role as far as playing the melody line goes, but it does so perfectly naturally. Having said that, Padraic's equally content to settle into a more usual (for the piano) supporting role when necessary, and there are some lovely instances where a different instrument is given its head (eg when Padraic's brother Damien, who among other things is a fine button accordionist, turns in a magnificent performance of the slow air Sliabh Geal Gua with Padraic himself providing ideal support). The gentle drive of Damien's rhythmic guitar playing graces some of the faster tunes, as does some dapper bodhrán (courtesy of Siobhán) and bouzouki (Cyril), while two tracks employ a string quartet and a further five of the 15 tracks embrace the fuller complement of the Corofin Chamber Orchestra. These necessarily bring a certain resonance of Micheál Ó Súilleabháin or Sean Ó Riada to the proceedings, but with the important (and welcome) difference that the arrangement itself does not dominate; contrast abounds here too, from the deliciously sprightly stepping Bill Malley's (barndances) set to the more considered, even genteel, mode of the brace of planxtys, all impeccably judged. The odd-track-out is the Percy's Pair set, whose comic-jazzy stance, bringing together folk tradition and the music-hall, proves wholly delightful.

The booklet notes are nicely informative regarding the tune sources, but I'm a mite puzzled at the description of the beautiful Love At The Endings as a “slow air” (it's nobbut a slowed-down reel, strictly speaking). I also noticed that tracks 11 and 12 (the Japanese Locomotive hornpipe set and Planxty O'Sullivan) have been “switched round” and the tracklist order on both rear box cover and booklet is therefore incorrect. But laying these minor administrative points aside, this is musically a most satisfying CD, which is also admirably soothing and thus a definite tonic for the highly strung! David Kidman

The Folk Diary
The role of the piano in Irish traditional music is normally that of providing a chordal accompaniment, though this has developed in recent
years through the adventurous playing of the likes of Charlie Lennon.

From the first notes of this album, the great reel, spelled here as "The Graf Spey", we hear that Padraig will be providing the melody. He does
act as accompanist to his brother, Damien playing the button accordion on part of the playing of a mesmerising slow air, "Sliabh Geal Gua".
The piano is recorded well to the fore on all tracks though he is always in the company of other musicians varying from guitar, bouzouki and bodhran to a string orchestra. There is also a marked variety in the way that he approaches each track from a light, almost comical take on a couple of Percy French songs tunes through to solemnity on the slow airs and straight ahead excitement on the reels.

Though his technique shows that he has had a thorough classical training, there can be no doubting his love and extensive knowledge of the Irish
tradition in every note that he plays. Vic Smith

The Irish World 17.8.07

The musician who's determined he'll put some piano into trad.

Something trad music enthusiasts won't have a lot of in their collection are CDs made up of piano music. I was a little dubious about this one myself, but any doubts were dispelled after the first track, a reel called The Graf Spey. The piano, in actual fact, lends itself well to traditional music, when used intelligently and by a player of real talent. One such talent, Ireland's true shining light in traditional piano - be it playing alone or accompanying (usually the Ennis Ceili Band) - is Padraic O'Reilly.

A young man from Corofin, Co Clare who for his years has a heck of a lot of experience notched up (O'Reilly played back in 1996 with the group, Turas)

O'Reilly graces us with a second album, Highly Strung, with accompaniment in the form of The Corofin Chamber Orchestra and guests. This is a fine follow up to the critically acclaimed Down the Ivory Stairs (2001) and its lively and varied choices - from agile jigs and reels to plaintive and beautiful slow airs, shows just how true to his roots and at the same time how avant guarde this classically and traditionally trained pianist is.
,
Given the O'Reilly treatment, the piano becomes a different animal, springing to life as its owner takes it to the furthest reaches of its capacity, making it harder and harder for the tutt-tutters to argue that the piano doesn't play a colourful part, albeit a relatively new one, in traditional Irish music. Shelley Marsden

www.liveireland.com
Here is another from Copperplate. "Highly Strung" by Padraic O'Reilly. It is a piano album, and we didn't get it at first. The more we listened, the more we got it. This is a great album by a musician of soul and understanding. Very, very,very good, indeed. There are so many beautiful takes on this 15-tune set. The hardest thing to do on an Irish piano album is the airs. There is so much to know and be good at. In his mid-20's, O'Reilly is already there. He is accompanied here by The Corofin Chamber Orchestra. The regular reader and knowledgeable trad fan will know Corofin, Galway as a real hotbed of traditional music, including super-families such as the Scahills. Add O'Reilly to the Corofin recipe. A great debut! Rating: Recommended. Bill Margeson

Musical Traditions Web Site
This is a most enjoyable record, and a truly spendid selection of tunes - indeed, I'm usually thinking "What a great tune" rather than "What terrific piano playing" - and that's exactly as it should be, in my opinion. Rod Stradling

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