The Brendan Voyage by Shaun Davey Soloist Liam O’Flynn
Footage of Shaun Davey's 'The Brendan Voyage' with soloist Liam O'Flynn. With his first major work, 'The Brendan Voyage' (1980) - Available for download from iTunes, Amazon, etc. -, Shaun Davey opened up totally new musical territory. For the first time, in a suite especially written for uilleann pipes soloist Liam O'Flynn, a traditional musician was integrated with a classical orchestra. The uilleann pipe passages in the Brendan suite, capturing all the force, emotion and beauty of Irish traditional music, here blend with the symphony orchestra in a synthesis of old and new, which has enchanted audiences around the world. 'The Brendan Voyage' is an emotive, symbolic work, seeming to answer a need in the Irish people to recognise and prove that a soloist representing an aural tradition can hold the stage on equal footing with members of a symphony orchestra. The theme of Shaun Davey's seminal work is the epic voyage of historian Tim Severin who, in 1976, set sail in a small leather-covered boat to retrace the voyage undertaken by St. Brendan, Abbot of Clonfert in the year 500 AD. According to Irish legend, St. Brendan, with a band of fellow missionaries, embarked in a fragile curragh to reach what many scholars believe was the New World. Tim Severin set out to test the legend, constructing his leather boat, 'The Brendan', in the ancient way and setting sail from Brandon Creek, Co. Kerry, on the first leg of a journey to Newfoundland. In Severin's account the boat takes on ...
Posted by David
October 19th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Hi Gaelicwolf, the tracks you mentioned are available for download from iTunes, Amazon, etc.
October 21st, 2011 at 4:49 am
If anyone has it, I’d really love to hear “Free and Easy” and “The Gale” again. I heard them years ago on the Thistle and Shamrock radio show, and I used to have them on cassette tape. If anyone cares to upload them, it’d be great!
October 23rd, 2011 at 9:47 am
Thank you, you chose the best possible track to showcase this remarkable album.
This music is a complete triumph!
October 23rd, 2011 at 4:19 pm
j’adore !!!
October 24th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Had the pleasure of seeing this live many years ago at Mandela Hall at Queens in Belfast. The first act was Davey’s Granuelle suite. Mind blowing. Met Liam after a Planxty concert. True modest gentleman with immense talent.
October 26th, 2011 at 2:58 am
an orchestra i played in (the C.Y.O) played this piece for our tour to italy a few years ago. its some tune!!! especially live. it didnt get boring even after rehearsing it about a hundred times.
October 26th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
I too have the vinyl. Would love to have seen this live. Stunningly beautiful. Wonderful to see a “folk” instrument holding its own with an orchestra.
October 30th, 2011 at 7:12 am
Brilliant. I have the original vinyl copy and this live versions sound inspiring!!!!
November 1st, 2011 at 9:59 am
do any of you idiots actually know anything about this peice of music,? NO i guess not, so wind your necks in and piss off and insult someone elses music your opinion is not welcome here thankyou.
November 4th, 2011 at 6:54 am
Seriously all info would be sourced from the early Church of Ireland or Culdee Monks, they were the ones who set out in boats trusting their fate to God, they settled on the Northern Isles, Faroes and Greenland at least in summer months, seems likely to me the Norse who followed in their footsteps, might have learned of North America and the Brendan Voyage while looting and burning irish monasteries, but that’s just my observation. And the Basques fished the Canadian Maritimes before Columbus.
November 6th, 2011 at 2:57 pm
HA HA very funny
November 6th, 2011 at 5:20 pm
Sorry I don’t think they had cameras back then.
November 9th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Here is a bit of usless information, That piece of music is 45 minuets long and imagine a normal piper only plays 3 to 4 min tunes at a time, Liam must also have been super human to play like this at the end. Just shows how great is.
November 10th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Thank you for this wonderful clip and also the information. I’ve totally fallen for Uileann pipes and Liam O’Flynn is a master musician indeed… Once more I envy you Irish for your rich, powerful music and incredible music makers!
November 12th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Saw this concert last year at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. Magic!!!
November 14th, 2011 at 12:37 am
I love the uileann pipes…not crazy about classical music but i have to say…together…they sound amazing. Must buy this album. Liam O’Flynn, you’re a credit to our country.
November 14th, 2011 at 2:44 am
this was the first record i ever knew as a child and have had it on tape for years,i have never met a person yet who has ever heard of it!its the best in the world and my greatest memories of my family.thanks xxx
November 16th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Thank you for this clip. I have had the tape for years. The Gaelic rock group RunRig used it as the intro to their concerts a couple of times. Great music. *****
November 19th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Hmmm. I was actually looking for a good documentary on the Voyage of St Brendan.
November 22nd, 2011 at 4:11 am
Have you other videos about “Brendan Voyage”? This is a must-listen for every lovers of uilleann piping.