It’s now ten years since Leo Rickard brought out his debut album (‘PURE PIPING’ Ceirnini Claddagh CCF33CD) in which he celebrated, so to speak, the completion of his piping apprenticeship (i.e. the traditional 21 years) by a bravura demonstration of his command of the armoury of piping technique, the rolls, cuts, curls, crans, pops and shivers, not least through the inclusion of many of the classic show-pieces made immortal by the recordings of the likes of Leo Rowsome and Willie Clancy.
And, we said, why not? What better way to show that you are eligible to follow in their footsteps? In any case, this time-served piper has gained entitlement to prove his ability in any way he sees fit, and it could be argued that non-players should accept there are limits to the extent to which they can criticise the piper’s choices of presentation.
His new CD, the excellent ‘UP, DOWN & AROUND’ is a very welcome addition to the catalogue of recorded Irish Piping, for it is clear that during the intervening ten years between albums Leo has continued to develop significantly in his approach to playing and presentation of piping and piping melodies. He has grown in both maturity and confidence. Let me explain.
By ‘maturity’ I mean that on the first CD the aforementioned piping technique was vigorously employed at most opportunities, whereas now on this second album the decorations and ornamentations, while still there to be heard, are much more subservient to the needs of the mood of the melody. It is used with subtlety, to add colour and power where appropriate rather than displayed at every opportunity. For my taste this restraint adds admirably to the listenability of the overall collection. This is not to say that the playing is short on character – Leo can still set off some piping fireworks when you least expect it – but it helps the listener to savour the complexities that the decorations add to the melody. As a result this album should rightly appeal to a far wider audience than just the hardcore fundamentalist wing of traditional Irish piping.
By ‘confidence’ I mean that he has felt free to expand some of the selected tunes with new textures and harmonic opportunities by including additional instruments, captured in real-time rather than multi-tracked, which gives a sharp-edge tension to the performances – one can sense the eye-contact between the musicians, even though you can’t see it!
Of course the use of other instruments and harmonies alongside the pipes is not in itself ground-breaking – this has been going on since the days of Sean O’Riada – but Leo demonstrates particular care in his choices. While some of the tracks are accompanied by the familiar guitar and bouzouki on others we are treated to the flute, the cello and in one instance a second chanter playing in harmony.
Confidence and maturity are likewise exhibited in the mix of traditional and newly-composed tunes that make up the content of the CD. In fact, Leo has selected a beautifully balanced programme of melodies, which I found to be a pleasure to listen to from start to finish. I use the word ‘programme; intentionally because I think the CD is best heard end-to-end in its entirety, in order to savour its subtle contrasts (OK you can refill your glass after track 7).
This programme balance works on several levels concurrently. The pace of the tracks is varied, bright sets following on from slower pieces. Tracks on the ‘concert’ pipes (pitched in D) are nicely contrasted by items on the narrow-bore ‘flat’ pipes’ (pitched in C#). There is only a half-tone gap in pitch, but savour the difference in sound-colour. The bite of grapefruit, so to speak, contrasts with the rich sweetness of fig. Or, if you prefer rock-speak, rather like the ice-fire bite of the Fender Stratocaster compared with the Gibson’s hooting humbucker.
Again, items on solo pipes are balanced by items where Leo is joined by fellow musicians, long-time associates who clearly are accustomed to Leo’s phrasing and style. We hear Raphy Doyle and Lochlainn Cullen, on guitar and bouzouki respectively, who provide the resonant strings background that is now familiar in the Irish session combo, nicely judged in the mixing so as not to be too obtrusive, but providing that pleasing polyphonic chorded sound-curtain for the chanter melody to play against. On a slow waltz later in the programme (‘Far Away’, a contemporary waltz-time tune from the USA fiddler Peter Jung) the lead is taken by flute (Julie Maisel) and cello (Grainne Hope), with Leo taking up the melody against the cello during the course of the piece. The end effect is haunting, one of those themes that takes up residence in your head for the rest of the day.
On another track (the slow waltz ‘Inisheer’) Leo plays the lead on the flat pipes and is joined in harmony by Ciara Maxwell’s flat chanter, during which Leo adds regulator chording to create another thoughtful air.
This is a good opportunity to compliment Leo on the quality of his reeds in the chanters, drones and regulators. They are without fault in pitch and tonality, delivering notes crisp and sweet or mellow and fruity, as required. The drones and regulators have been carefully tempered in the recording mix, confined to the background or brought to the fore according to the needs of the piece being played. I surmise that considerable thought and care has gone into balancing the sound mix of the pipe components as well as the accompanying instruments on each track.
It’s also a good opportunity to remark on the mix of traditional and ‘new’ tunes presented in the programme. On balance I prefer listening to the good old tunes that have stood the acid test of time. Many of these new tunes seem to exist only as ego-boosters for the composer and to enable their cliques to hog the session. They usually have as much survivability as a mayfly. That said, there are still occasionally tunes composed in the traditional style that fit seamlessly within it, take root and will survive on into the future. Leo has intuitively selected new tunes which fit successfully into this latter category. In fact two of his own composition, played on the flat pipes (‘Planxty Brigid Maxwell’ and ‘The Maid of Bearna Lodge’), I fully intend to include into my own repertoire at the earliest opportunity.
There isn’t the space to examine each track in detail. Suffice to say that each follows on from its predecessor with a pleasing contrast of some kind – solo then accompanied, traditional then modern, concert pipes then flat pipes, slow then sprightly. A real chiaroscuro interweaving of light and shade, of sound and mood. All tracks have something particular to themselves to make them attractive in isolation, but just as much attraction comes from the contrast to the item that precedes it. It’s that programme balance I keep going on about.
My own particular favourite moments? The perkily bright chanter work on the ‘Cameronian reel’ (a nice contrast to the steady jigs on the preceding track); the dark chocolate tones of the flat pipes, played in close style, with their rumbling drones. on ‘Planxty Brigid Maxwell’ (in contrast to the ‘Cameronian’ set that precedes it); the chanter harmonies on ‘Inisheer’; the flute and cello additions on ‘Far Away’; the marches of the ‘Battle of Aughrim’ set played with the fourth drone set to a modal 5th, unusual but effective given the keynote of the tunes; the tasteful legato regulator work during the slow air ‘Lament for Limerick’; and the final barnstorming trio of reels, with chanter work very reminiscent of Leo’s friend and mentor, Paddy Keenan, finishing with a triumphant ‘Flogging Reel’.
Probably most of all I like Leo’s treatment of the classic ‘Nora Criona’, where the initial 6/8 rhythm is exchanged for a slow dignified exploration of the basic theme in the old-fashioned Munster style (accompanied thoughtfully by the cello) and then re-asserts itself with more of the traditional jig.
In conclusion, then, I have listened to, greatly enjoyed and now applaud this CD. I congratulate Leo on his choice of programme and its high production standards, and trust it will get the exposure and praise it deserves. Hopefully we won’t have to wait ten years for the next one.
“Up, Down and Around” SPIN CD1014.
SIOBHÁN LONG
Up, Down and Around
Claddagh Records ****
For sheer chutzpah, Leo Rickard has few rivals. The Dublin piper’s long-awaited solo album is an Aladdin’s cave of baubles, many of which shimmer in the heat of finely chosen tunes, though a few suffer at the hands of over- zealous and flabby guitar and bouzouki accompaniment. Rickard’s piping style is highly disciplined, haughty and genteel in turn, and utterly in concert with the demands of the tune.
What stands out here, though, is his choice of cello and concert flute (from Gráinne Hope and Julie Maisel) as pinprick accompaniments on the Peter Jung-composed Far Away , a tune that straddles classical and traditional idioms with ease. The subtlety of interplay between the three instruments is revelatory, a sign of Rickard’s generosity of spirit. Although pipes are the perfect solo instrument, here he reins them in to accommodate some exceptionally balanced arrangements. His treatment of Caoineadh Luimní is another standout.
They say it takes twenty-one years to earn the right to be called a Uilleann Piper – seven years learning, seven years practising and seven years playing. It might also be said that it’s only after twenty-one years that you start to appreciate the size of the job you’ve taken on.
The business of learning to play the pipes can drive you to madness or drink or both. Many begin the climb unaware of the level of commitment required to reach, at best, the plateau of competence. It follows that those who, after twenty-one years, have made it to the upper slopes can claim to have earned the right to call themselves ‘Pipers’ – being accredited masters of the art of ‘Pipering’.
Taken as a whole these ‘Pipers’ display many variations of personality. However, in my experience one particular characteristic seems common across the whole order, to wit, a unique self-confidence in their ability, manifesting itself as a personal credo of what constitutes good piping and pipe music. Pipers may be quirky, bloody-minded or lunatical, but they will not have any half-formed or wishy-washy views on the business of pipering. And while they may have consensus on what constitutes the core virtues of good pipering, there is still a huge amount of opportunity for variation and difference of opinion outside of that core.
Within the Irish tradition of music there is no single ‘correct’ way of piping a melody. Rather, the time-served piper has also earned the right to declare (if any non-pipers had the temerity to criticise some aspect of the performance) that, by virtue of that long apprenticeship, any way he chooses to perform it at a given point in space and time is per se the correct way. Every time-served piper’s performance is a real-time application of the acquired skills of decoration and the intuitive arts of improvisation put together consciously and unconsciously around the framework of the melody and all contained within the discipline of the cultural tradition. Subject to such factors of variation it follows that no given piece can be reproduced exactly over and over again. Each performance is different.
This is why pipers are by nature solo performers. If two pipers sit down together to play the same tune each will play it correctly but differently (curiously enough, the differences of decoration in these spontaneous encounters tend to cancel each other out, producing a rather anodyne skirl). Of course there are occasions when pipers play in multiples, but it is most likely through force of circumstance; it’s sometimes done for fun, or to double the visual impact of a gloriously photogenic instrument – but not to create music that has a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
What it boils down to is that the pipes are fundamentally a solo instrument, complete in themselves. Whichever way you look at it, it’s a one-man show. And this is the key to Leo Rickard’s solo album ‘Pure Piping’.
Leo Rickard has done the full apprenticeship. Like so many other good musicians, he comes from a musical family which has been active in the windswept township of Howth for generations. He started his piping education in 1976 at the old Pipers’ Club in Dublin. He has served the full twenty-one and more, playing betimes in groups, family bands, and European touring combos, supporting the sessions and passing on his skills and knowledge to a new generation of pipers at the Willy Clancy Summer School. In this, his first full album, Leo has selected a balanced anthology of piping classics well-suited, I suspect, to reflect his personal stance on good pipering, born of that long apprenticeship.
Leo favours a beefy, open, rolling, driving style. At the same time he can unexpectedly spit out little tight runs of triplets in the lower octave between pops in the upper octave – a right little firecracker of an effect – much in the manner of the traveller pipers. He likes to flatten the upper F sharp to F natural, the piper’s equivalent of the bending note of the blues harmonica. In another set I noticed a little phrase where some left hand notes where fingered in the tight piping manner but with the chanter off the knee – a technique I encountered in Belgium – which works well here. Many other tricks of the trade are exploited …
In the old days, any discussion of an open piper’s qualities would sooner or later pose the question, “Is he a good regulator man?”. Leo applies a well-tuned set of regulators on five of the eleven sets on the CD with a fine sensitivity for the critical moment. The old question is answered in its particularity on the final set where he exploits to the full the fact that in The Eagle’s Whistle, the first part can be played entirely on the left hand on the chanter, leaving the right hand free to play individual keys in harmony with the chanter melody.
In arranging many of the tune-sets Leo has ignored the ceilidh band convention of playing each tune twice; instead he develops a tune through several iterations, introducing new colours and decorations each time. Likewise instead of changing key with each change of tune in a set, several sets are all based on the chanter key-note, as from the older days of piping, delivering a cumulative effect of a single long intricate melody of multiple movements. I was also particularly taken by the two sets of fast hornpipes, in effect slow reels played on the off-beat, guaranteed foot-tappers. Unconventional? Maybe in some ways, but a time-served piper has paid his dues and deserves the respect.
It so happened that when I first started playing the CD I was startled, off and on, by some aspect of that personal style; some musical twist or turn that made me sit up. But as it progressed I was overtaken by the thought process I’ve tried to articulate in the paragaraphs above. I told myself to shut up and listen to what Leo was telling me about his view of Pipering, through the pieces he had selected and the way that he plays them. Rather than mentally trying to shout him down with my views and preconceptions I sat back and let him take me through some old favourite pieces and some that were new to me.
At the end of the album I knew I understood more about those tunes, and something about the piper as well. It was almost like having been present at a live performance in some small secluded bar, like the snug at Hughes’s. So I congratulate Leo on a fine first album and look forward to the next.
Tom Walsh – 7.12.00
Although the title intimates that this is a record of solo piping i.e. Pure Piping, an alternative reading of the title, Pure Piping would be equally valid. Rickard has inherited a tradition whose roots are deep in the Irish psyche. He’s in the inner circle of the quasi-mystical brotherhood of pipers, men who make stirring, passionate music from that complex arrangement of reeds, chanter, regulators and bellows whose sound is the quintessence of Irish music.
No mere technician, like his friend Paddy Keenan, Rickard is a true artist, whose piping speaks volumes, whether he’s belting out a fine set of reels or teasing out an achingly slow air, Rickard’s gift of music goes way beyond the notes and he communicates direct to the heart and the soul.
As well as having a few tunes in common, Keenan and Rickard share an ability to take instinctive, highly colourful risks with their piping- wild flurries and runs which captivate the listener. Only truly inspired pipers can sense the opportunity which certain tunes afford to make such intensively personal statements, and only the truly courageous and confident can seize the opportunity once they have sensed them.
Rickard takes the unusual step (for a piper) of playing two Carolan pieces (Carolan’s Concerto and Morgan Magan) as well as an almost Carolan piece ( Planxty Davis). Rarely are such tunes heard on the pipes. And yet, as Rickard demonstrates, they do not sound out of place in the least.
But, unusual and exquisitely well played as these pieces are, it is of course to the dance music which the lover of piping will be drawn, and their listening will be rewarded. Of the three jig sets on the album, Garrett Barry’s/ The Lark in The Morning is the outstanding gem. Rarely have we heard the first jig set get a more characterful rendering or the second a more spirited outing.
The album contains only one reel set- Flax in bloom/The Pinch of Snuff/ Corney is Coming- but that one set conjures up much excitement and intensity.
The Wexford Hornpipe/The High Level Hornpipe is a massive job of piping. The Second Hornpipe is particulary associated with the Northumbrian piper James Hill, provides a test of character and stamina which Rickard passes with flying colours. But the C.D.’s highlight, and indeed a highlight of piping generally is Rickard’s version of the set-dances, The Ace and Deuce of Piping/The Job of Journeywork. On both tunes he displays a sense of timing and control, as well as sheer dexterity, which elevates his performance above mere playing; rather he redefines the tunes, the notes are what the tradition has bequeathed; Rickard’s assured yet delicate touch gives the tunes new shape and substance.
Available from www.claddaghrecords.com and well worth the investment!
http//www.paythereckoning.com/reviews.html
A rare pleasure to hear such a piping album with the instrument understood in it’s honest self-accompaniment, in spite of marketplace pressure to sell to ephemeral Trad-Pop taste. This Dublin piper has exceptional clarity and strength. The full precision of his triplets, pops, pipping, rolls and decorative tight fingering {notably on ‘Tailor’s Twist’ and ‘Flax in Bloom’} are clearly set against only drones. Somewhat showy and brisk- if galloped in Carolan tunes-playing is passionate, joyous and finley-tuned on flat and concert sets.’Sliabh na mBan with strong regulators employs a weak ending, but ‘Fead an Iolair’ marches’ rhythmic regulator patterning is unusual and dramatic for exploiting the pipes’ full potential.
Fintan Vallely
Since Leo’s first recording, a four track demo called Piping hot, I have been waiting for this fully fledged album. The promise shown in Piping hot has been fulfilled- and how!
In an era of high tech studio effects and arrangements, it is a brave step to record a truly solo album. This is unaccompanied ‘straight from the heart’ uilleann piping at its best. Leo’s technique is second to none and he has the rare gift of using this technique to enhance and embellish, rather than obscure. His interpretations and variations reveal fresh insights in otherwise well-worn tunes.
I have had many a session with Leo since our first encounter at the Bettystown Tionol in 1977 and his music has always excited and inspired me. I have no doubt that anyone who has the good fortune to hear this album will experience the same.’
Martin Nolan
My friend Leo and I have been neighbours for at least thirty-two years, since he was a child and I was very young! It’s great that he has made this CD , carrying on the piping tradition of his uncle Jimmy Rickard and of course mixed with the style of the Travelling pipers and with his own individual style as well. So here we are on the Howth Peninsula and all over the country looking forward to great music sessions with Leo.
Slainte maith go deo
Barney McKenna
I really enjoyed listening to this recording. It certainly stands out from the wash and busk of many. Here’s a rare opportunity to hear the uilleann pipes in an uncluttered setting, performed here with warmth, style and expression by Leo.
Paddy Keenan
To sing the praises of Leo and his music would take me more time than I have got. I know Leo since school days, he is one of the best , if not the best pipers I and my friends have ever heard, This album/CD is long overdue, and it will be a great success among lovers of good , even great Irish traditional music
Brendan ‘’Bull’’ Moore
Without accompaniment or studio frills’ the Howth man’s hardcore’ raw-knuckles piping makes exemplar statements of many big piping tunes as he departs self-consciously from recordings of Seamus Ennis , Liam O’Flynn , Leo Rowsome and Travellers Johnny and Felix Doran – even his mate , Paddy Keenan. It’s an odd gambit , as he forces his way through embellishments , which can be jaw-dropping or hillarious: shaking the gizzard out of the ‘’Ace and deuce ‘’, barping the ‘’Job of journeywork’’ along like a fat hen: the yipping alarums of the ‘’Lark in the morning’’. The atavistic landscape of ‘’Carolan’s concerto, the molten anthem of ‘’Sliabh na mBan’’—all that relentless focus and drive.
Mick Moroney.
Leo Rickard’s piping lineage is much influenced by the late Johnny Doran and Leo Rowsome. Rickard himself has taken wisely from the source , but augmented the influences with some very individual characteristics. His style and penchant for bending notes in the fashion almost of a blues guitarist is a joy to listen to , particularly on pieces like ‘The Ace and Deuce of Piping’, which totally engages the listener . His fast fingering on the ‘Flax in Bloom’ set is particularly fine – you wish for the track to go on forever , its closing phrase shot through with rhythmic and melodic richness. With ‘Pure Piping’, Leo Rickard has , like his mentors before him , made an album of significance and integrity which will , when benchmarked in years to come , mark him out as one of our finest. May he never run out of puff!
Oliver P. Sweeney.
Paddy Keenan introduced me to Leo Rickard at Miltown years ago, and we three spent the week making reeds and talking about Rowsome chanters, occasionally joined by Davy Spillane and pat Broderick. Add Martin Nolan and you would have had almost the entire open style piping world at the time in one room. Leo stood out in my mind for his passion about the pipes, his gentlemanly personality and his distinct Dublin accent. Now I’m very happy to see that he has released a solo piping recording on Claddagh Records.
The music seems to flow in two parallel streams. On the one hand is the open style stream, played in concert-pitch on tunes that reflect the style, and with a strong Leo Rowsome influence, like Top of the Cork Road , the Wexford Hornpipe, and a setting clearly influenced by Paddy of the High Level Hornpipe. Playing touches mirror Paddy keenan styling when he pats the E in the second octave repeatedly in one tune, and on another twists the attack of G notes in the High Level Hornpipe.
Then there is a second steam of music on flat pipes with more mixed styled technique and several O’Carolan harp tunes and the unexpectedly lovely Morgan Magan, rarely played on the pipes. Leo clearly has a broad interest in the instrument and it’s different stylistic roots. His piping spans a range of styles with just the right touch of personal variation thrown in for spice.
A surprise for me was hearing the strong Leo Rowsome influence, I’m referring to tunes like The Cook in the Kitchen and Donnybrook Fair, and the Eagle’s Whistle / The Fairy Revels marches which have uncanny Leo Rowsome / Denis Brooks style regulator syncopation. Mick O’Connor writes a very introduction in the liner notes and refers to Leo’s uncle, Jimmy Rickard, who was at one time a member of the Leo Rowsome quartet. He also characterizes Leo Rickard’s playing as “uncluttered piping”and refers to his “musical integrity”, to both of which I must agree.
The tunes are all piping classics like Garret Barry’s jig and the Lark in the Morning and the settings are virtually the same as the great players have given them to us, like the Cook in the Kitchen and Donnybrook Fair from Leo Rowsome and the unmistakeable, haunting Johnny Doran character in Sliabh na mBan. In Sliabh , Leo slides gently down from the B to the A and has the same languorous , singy sound in the melody like Doran. He has successfully captured the master’s original spirits and stylings in these tunes.
The playing is most exciting , and touches real brilliance when Leo plays regulators, like on the Job of Journeywork which reminds one a bit of Liam Walsh, and The Fairie’s Hornpipe, and the marches that close the recording. These don’t sound like clean, studio overdubbed regs, these are live, jumpy, bouncy, banging regs played at the same time with the chanter and drones and the effect is very exciting and takes the music to a higher level. What I like most is that the regs are at times so rapid and vigorous that you get a sense of urgency and excitement that almost defies rhythm. This is perhaps a very old, traditional way of playing regs which escapes analysis and I only wish it were on more tunes. Definitely worth catching.
The recording sound overall is dry and traditional and unaffected by production technique. You can hear the room sound, which helps place the pipes in their traditional and aural context, like older recordings. The flat set, made by Kevin Thompson, in particular sounds very lovely on Ace and Deuce / Job of Journeywork with natural sounding loud regs. Minor, normal squeaks and squawks are there in the piping, which makes it sound more real and musically alive. Leo clearly was avoiding, any tendency for showoffy production and stuck to the pure core of his traditional playing and repertoire and the result is good, solid piping.