Polyphonies Irlandaises, collection of traditional Irish songs arranged by Jean-Paul Joly:
:
This collection is a choice, among the quantity of Irish melodies available, which came to me by frequenting this repertoire.
As a teacher of musical training and choral singing in a national conservatory, I was very much involved in the use of traditional and contemporary music (jazz, pop, gospel etc...) for the personal interest I had in it, but also for the pedagogical potential they offered in music schools through the practice of vocal polyphony. My motivation to write arrangements is therefore initially pedagogical, but as a choir director, I have in a way "exported" this writing work to serve vocal ensembles.
This collection thus has the ambition to be a kind of door which opens towards Irish music, illustrated by a vast repertory as well instrumental as vocal, and to give an access within the framework of the choral practice will be able to launch out in this unpublished repertory with profit.
The themes addressed in these 9 tracks arranged for mixed voice choirs (SATB) are varied:
Love of course, in different ways, let's give some examples.
In " The rose of Tralee ", it is not only Mary's beauty that seduced her fiancé...
In "The Sally gardens", he is shown a young fiancé in love but dizzy and inattentive. He says how he bitterly regrets it today...
Then other themes:
Filial love, in the famous " O Danny boy " : it is the story of this son who goes to war and who will not come back, and whose grave is regularly honored by his father ...
In this register of filial love, it is "The minstrel boy" where we see that the son inherits the sword of his father to defend the country, but also his harp for the pleasure of sharing the music …
The regrets born from the passing of time : in " The Kerry dancing ", it is the evocation of the balls of yesteryear, to the sound of the joyful bagpipes. Thinking about it today makes you nostalgic...
Content :
Oh, Danny boy (Traditionnel)
Kitty of coleraine (Traditionnel)
The kerry dancing (Traditionnel)
Believe me (Traditionnel)
The Sally gardens (Traditionnel)
The minstrel boy (Traditionnel)
Wearing of the green (Traditionnel)
The rose of tralee (Traditionnel)
Easy and slow (Traditionnel)
