''The Given Note'' is the fourth solo album by master uilleann piper and prominent Irish traditional musician Liam O'Flynn. Produced by Shaun Davey and recorded at

Windmill Lane Studios Windmill Lane Recording Studios (earlier Windmill Lane Studios) is a recording studio in Dublin, Ireland. It was originally opened in 1978 by Brian Masterson and James Morris in premises at 22 Windmill Lane, and it subsequently relocated to its cu ...

in Dublin, the album was released in 1995. The title was suggested by O'Flynn's good friend

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. Heaney also wrote a tribute to O'Flynn which is on the sleeve notes of the album.

Critical response

In his review for Allmusic, Chris Nickson gave the album three out of five stars, calling it "an object lesson in the way elticmusic should be played in the 1990s". Nickson observes that despite O'Flynn covering the full Celtic music spectrum, it is the Irish songs that "lie closest to O'Flynn's heart". Nickson concludes:

Track listing

# "O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick" – 4:07 # "O'Rourke's, the Merry Sisters, Colonel Fraser" – 3:36 # "Come With Me over the Mountain, a Smile in the Dark" – 4:34 # "Farewell to Govan" – 4:00 # "Joyce's Tune" – 4:41 # "The Green Island, Spellan the Fiddler" – 3:50 # "Foliada de Elviña" – 4:06 # "Ag Taisteal Na Blárnan (Travelling Through Blarney)" – 4:10 # "The Rambler, the Aherlow Jig" – 3:26 # "The Smith's a Gallant Fireman" – 3:02 # "Romeo's Exile" – 3:52 # "

The Rocks of Bawn ''The Rocks of Bawn'' is an Irish traditional folk song, likely originating in County Galway in the early 18th century. It has been catalogued in the ''Roud Folk Song Index'', as number 3024. It has been recorded and sung publicly by numerous Irish ...

" – 6:07 # "Cailín na Gruaige Doinne (The Girl of the Brown Hair)" – 3:53 # "Teño un Amor Na Montaña, Alborada - Unha Noite no Santo Cristo" – 9:22

Personnel

* Liam O'Flynn –

uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from thei ...

, whistle *

Arty McGlynn Arty McGlynn (7 August 1944 – 18 December 2019) was an Irish guitarist born in Omagh, County Tyrone. In addition to his solo work, he collaborated with different notable groups such as Patrick Street, Planxty, Four Men and a Dog, De Dannan ...

– guitar *

Steve Cooney Stephen Cooney is an Australian-Irish musician. Early life Cooney was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, where he learned to play the didgeridoo, and from the age of seventeen he played in a number of rock bands. He is of Irish ancestry ...

– guitar, bass guitar,

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo wa ...

* Rod McVey – synthesizers, Hammond organ, harmonium * Noel Eccles – percussion * Sean Keane – fiddle * Rodrigo Romani ( Milladoiro) – harp * Xose V. Ferreirós (Milladoiro) –

Galician gaita The Galician gaita ( gl, Gaita galega, pt, Gaita galega, es, Gaita gallega) is the traditional instrument of Galicia and northern Portugal. The word is used across northern Spain as a generic term for "bagpipe", although in the south of Spain ...

, tambourine, oboe * Nando Casal (Milladoiro) – Galician gaita, clarinet * Ciaran Mordaunt – side drums (track 10) * Andy Irvine – vocals, mandolin *

Paul Brady Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing ...

– vocals, mandolin, piano

References

External links

Record Label Catalogue 2009

{{DEFAULTSORT:Given Note 1995 albums Liam O'Flynn albums