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The Palm Beach Daily News
Friday March 14th 2003
ANÚNA Renews Irish Folk Music
The Group’s performance at the Four Arts showcases its mastery of a variety of vocal styles.
By Márcio Bezzer
The revival of traditional and folk repertories has many similarities with the classical "authentic" performance movement: It relies on the study of old manuscripts, on the research of obscure singing and instrumental traditions, and on the careful reconstruction of musical fragments deemed artistically worthy.
That reconstruction, however, allows for much more space for creativity, because of the folk origins of the material. While some groups have used this freedom to apply a false historic (and thence kitsch) patina to their works, others, thanks to their deep understanding and enjoyment of such repertory , have unveiled a refreshing and instigating body of music to concert-going audiences.
Fortunately, the latter is the case of the group Anúna, which presented a concert of Celtic (mostly Irish) music Wednesday at The Society of the Four Arts.
For more than 15 years, the vocal ensemble has promoted its native traditional repertory through tasteful arrangements and original settings to ancient texts. Among its many achievements, the group has 11 albums to its credit and has performed at the prestigious BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
At the Fours Arts, Anúna drew songs from a repertory list that displayed the group's virtuoso grasp of different styles, from haunting female-only numbers, such as the 1600's song Jerusalem, to the fast-paced tongue twister work song Dúlamán for male voices.
Hosted by witty and good-humored founder Michael McGlynn, the ensemble also performed admirably in religious works, such as the modern setting of a fifth-century Hymn to the Virgin, as well as McGlynn's own version of Pie Jesu from the Requiem text.
As a choral ensemble, Anúna may startle some because of its heterogeneous sound: Each singer has a very peculiar timbre that stands out from one's traditional conception of a choir. This trait, however, has proved beneficial to the type of music they perform.
Indeed, there was a lot of beautiful solo singing during Wednesday's concert. Unfortunately, this review is unable to do justice to some outstanding soloists because of McGlynn's insistence that his ensemble members not be mentioned on the program.
As beautiful as the music was the choice of texts. Even though Anúna's perfect diction allowed for a clear understanding of songs set to texts in English, Spanish and Latin, the audience could have clearly benefited from the inclusion of texts and translations of the numbers sung in the Irish language.
Apart from these eccentricities, McGlynn and his group left a lasting impression and a renewed admiration for the music of their native Ireland. Their remarkable performance displayed an understanding and empathy that made their repertory sound simultaneously local and universal