Between the Showers - Review
Richmond Newspapers - 1999
Clark Bustard
Harpist's delicate melodies enchant
Grainne Hambly, an Irish harpist (or harper) from Belfast, has the great advantage of playing one of the world's most enchanting instruments. If any sound could successfully choreograph a dance of fireflies or hummingbirds, the Irish harp would produce it. Jigs, reels and flings might be another matter, at least off the dance floor of one's imagination.
The sound of an Irish harp compares with that of the standard concert harp in about the same way that the sound of a small harpsichord would compare to that of a grand piano. The instrument's tone is so delicate that even the lightest footfall would obliterate it. As Hambly performed last night, the mildest clearing of a throat sounded like a thunderclap.
Hambly's 90-minute set was divided about evenly between Irish dance medleys and her instrument's natural medium, the laments and slow airs that Irish harp players raised to a high art from the late-17th to mid-19th centuries. The greatest of those masters, Turlough Carolan (1670-1738), was the source of some of Hambly's most affecting numbers. "Counsellor MacDonough's Lamentation" and "Eleanor Plunkett," especially, showcased the sonic and emotional resonance of the instrument at a slow tempo and in a bittersweet mood.
One of several modern tunes setting a similar tone was "A Walk on Belfast" by Janet Harbison, Hambly's teacher and leader of the Belfast Harp Orchestra, in which Hambly plays first harp.
Hambly typically built minisuites of two or three melodically or harmonically related dances. Contrasting tempos in these medleys helped overcome the musical sameness that can make Irish dance music sound tedious to seated listeners.
Wednesday, September 8,
1999
By Clarke Bustard
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
© 1999, Richmond Newspapers Inc.