Today I presented my concert in St Andrews, “the Memoirs of Arthur Ó Neill”.
I read excerpts from his autobiography, and played the tunes referred to in the anecdotes.
Here is my video of the complete, half-hour performance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42WieyZ5B0U
This was a very difficult experimental performance for me. I am not used to playing the Otway harp, I am not used to playing with the tips of my fingers, and I am not used to harmonising with triad chords. And actually, doing the readings interspersed with the playing breaks up the flow of the performance a bit. So the playing is rather lumpy in places.
But I have learned so much from this process. I really am starting to get a sense of the way the mainstream of 18th century Irish harp music worked.
People said they enjoyed the anecdotes, and they also enjoyed hearing the Dolmetsch harp, which I used for the anecdote of the Brian Boru harp in Limerick.
It was great fun to watch and listen to it. Also I liked the excerpts a lot. Ó Néill had a good sense of humor. Also I feel a wee bit connected to the Dolmetsch harp as I put you and the previous owner together.
I now realise more than ever that low and high headed harps am quite different!