Seán Ó Riada - Port Na bPúcai (CD)

No figure looms larger over Irish traditional music than Seán Ó Riada. Through his film scores and his group Ceoltóirí Chualann he changed how Ireland heard its own music, and this collection presents the man alone at the piano and harpsichord, playing his own arrangements of the great Irish airs. Most of it was recorded in May 1971, five months before his death at just 40, with further material from March 1971 and 1966. Remarkably, this hour of music is only now seeing release for the first time.

The repertoire runs from beloved airs like Carraig Donn and Sliabh na mBan to pieces Ó Riada himself first brought to public attention, including Aisling Gheal and the otherworldly Blasket air Port na bPúcaí. There are airs remembered from his childhood too, and a rousing run of patriotic tunes including Óró Sé do Bheatha Abhaile. Intimate, stately and quietly haunting, it plays like a final statement from Ireland's national composer.