The Given Note Explained

The Given Note
Type:	Studio
Artist:	Liam O'Flynn
Cover:	given_note.jpg
Released:	1995
Recorded:	Windmill Lane Studios Dublin
Genre:	Celtic, Traditional Irish
Label:	Tara Music label
Producer:	Shaun Davey
Prev Title:	Out to an Other Side
Prev Year:	1993
Next Title:	The Piper's Call
Next Year:	1999

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 in Dublin, the album was released in 1995.^[1] The title was suggested by O'Flynn's good friend Seamus Heaney, 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 [Celtic] music should be played in the 1990s".^[2] 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".^[2] Nickson concludes:

Track listing

1. "O'Farrell's Welcome to Limerick" – 4:07
2. "O'Rourke's, the Merry Sisters, Colonel Fraser" – 3:36
3. "Come With Me over the Mountain, a Smile in the Dark" – 4:34
4. "Farewell to Govan" – 4:00
5. "Joyce's Tune" – 4:41
6. "The Green Island, Spellan the Fiddler" – 3:50
7. "Foliada de Elviña" – 4:06
8. "Ag Taisteal Na Blárnan (Travelling Through Blarney)" – 4:10
9. "The Rambler, the Aherlow Jig" – 3:26
10. "The Smith's a Gallant Fireman" – 3:02
11. "Romeo's Exile" – 3:52
12. "The Rocks of Bawn" – 6:07
13. "Cailín na Gruaige Doinne (The Girl of the Brown Hair)" – 3:53
14. "Teño un Amor Na Montaña, Alborada - Unha Noite no Santo Cristo" – 9:22

Personnel

• Liam O'Flynn – uilleann pipes, whistle
• Arty McGlynn – guitar
• Steve Cooney – guitar, bass guitar, didgeridoo
• Rod McVey – synthesizers, Hammond organ, harmonium
• Noel Eccles – percussion
• Sean Keane – fiddle
• Rodrigo Romani (Milladoiro) – harp
• Xose V. Ferreirós (Milladoiro) – Galician gaita, tambourine, oboe
• Nando Casal (Milladoiro) – Galician gaita, clarinet
• Ciaran Mordaunt – side drums (track 10)
• Andy Irvine – vocals, mandolin
• Paul Brady – vocals, mandolin, piano

External links

• Record Label Catalogue 2009
• Album Sleevenotes

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Given Note . . 5 September 2013.
2. Web site: Nickson . Chris . The Given Note . . 14 May 2012.