Here's a good, solid CD for fans of traditional fiddling, and for fiddlers as well. In a span of 55 minutes, you'll hear 15 sets made up of 42 jigs, reels, airs, hornpipes, slip jigs and more, all played by one of the masters of the Sligo fiddle style, Irish-American Brian Conway. Conway has a strong, aggressive style of playing, but still manages to produce decent tone while showing off fine technique.

Conway is seen to his best effect in the first track, a sprightly set of reels with understated guitar accompaniment by Mark Simos. It's a well-constructed set, as most of these are, with wide rhythmic variety within the set. The most interesting slip jigs are usually quirky, both in terms of rhythm and chord progression, and the second set is a delight. Felix Dolan accompanies on piano on this set and the next, a set of reels, which shows why I personally find piano accompaniment of this kind to be far less interesting than other accompanying instruments. (Yes, I know I speak heresy, but alas, my likes are often governed by my ears rather than by tradition.) There's a plink-PLUNK plink-PLUNK, bass-treble bass-treble, left hand-right hand, left hand-right hand rhythm that I find unbearably dull in contrast to the work of good guitarists. I know it's the way things are done in this particular style, but I still find it musically oppressive, often hauling fanciful solo flights back down to earth. Rant over.

The next set of jigs, accompanied by Pat Kilbride on cittern, shows why I prefer string accompaniment over piano. Kilbride works with the fiddle, weaving around the melody, creating two different musical lines. Andy McGann's fiddle joins Conway's on the next set of reels for a fuller sound, and John Doyle's guitar provides even more interest with his use of alternate chords. We're back to plink-plunk, however, with the next set of piano-accompanied hornpipes, perhaps the least subtle of tune forms. The piano stays on board for the next set of double-fiddle reels.

Conway attains a lighter and lilting sound in a set of Highlands music. However, when fiddle aficionados hear this kind of music, they immediately think of Bonnie Rideout, and the comparison isn't favorable to Conway, who doesn't come close to attaining Rideout's superlative tone nor her sensitivity. After a few more reel sets, Conway varies the pace with a slow air, which he handles well. The next two sets aren't as interesting -- Martin Wynne's four reels are too similar for true variety, and the set of hornpipes illustrates why I consider the form the lowest common denominator of fiddle music. There's something dopey and study-book about them, like the Celtic equivalent of oom-pah-pah German music. The disc ends with another set of jigs (with three fiddlers) and a final reel set.

All in all, Conway plays well and cleanly, and is the epitome of the Sligo style. But if you're looking for great emotion and sensitivity, you generally won't find it here. These are straight-ahead, take-no-prisoners versions, and there's a lot of sameness in this hour of music. Conway is an excellent fiddler, but his biography reveals that his teachers and tutors were traditional fiddlers, and it shows. He's one of the best at what he does, but he's just a level below the pinnacle. I'm not a classical snob by any means, but I miss that purity of tone and the finesse that more fastidious fiddlers like Rideout bring to the party. Still, if you're looking for a mostly great batch of tunes played well in the traditional style, you can't go wrong here.

- Rambles
written by Chet Williamson
published 14 June 2003