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Based on Irish folk dancing styles,
Riverdance was originally devised as a 20-minute intermission entertainment for the Eurovision Song Contest. There, its phenomenal reception inspired composer
Bill Whelan to expand the piece into a full-length stage show, still centered around Irish music, but now telling a loose story of many different peoples who in the 20th century have found themselves émigrés. The paradoxically formal yet expressive, sensual, and exhilarating energy of traditional Irish dance and Irish folk music is only the beginning. A work full of strong melodies, excitement, romantic dreams, and nostalgic longing, the full
Riverdance show is a spellbinding spectacle. Complete with orchestra, Whelan brings influences from Irish classical music, incorporates the haunting sound of vocal group
Anuna, and adds the diverse folk sounds of Nova Scotia, Macedonia, Russia, and Andalucia to his rich cultural melting pot. Playing on the album are some of the finest folk musicians around, including piper
Davy Spillane and
Eileen Ivers on fiddle. The result is not just a tuneful souvenir of a great stage show, but a most enjoyable release in its own right. Whelan also has worked on the
Rob Roy soundtrack and composed
The Seville Suite and
The Spirit of Mayo.
--Gary S. Dalkin
Product Description
braniascolta 30''1.reel around the sunascolta2.the heart's cryascolta3.the countess cathleen / women of the sidheascolta4.coinneadh cu chuliannascolta5.shivnaascolta6.firedanceascolta7.slip into spring/the harvestascolta8.riverdanceascoltaascolta 30''9.american wake (the nova scotia set)ascolta10.lift the wingsascolta11.heal their hearts/freedomascolta12.macedonian morningascolta13.marta's dance / the russian dervishascolta14.andaluciaascolta15.riverdance reprise-
