Catrin Finch and Aoife Ní Bhriain‘s 2023 debut album Double You (reviewed here) was a compelling, innovative melding of classical, Irish fiddle and Welsh harp traditional music. However, seeing them play live is a whole other blissful, enriching experience.
Wonder, their opener, based on a Bach prelude, with some chords at the end from a Mendelssohn violin concerto, is gripping, has a sense of urgency, the melody played on Catrin’s imposing Welsh harp, in a circular, almost Terry Riley-ish fashion and Aoife’s fiddle insistent but graceful. A tip-toeing melody high on the harp and plucked fiddle leads off Whispers, followed by an ascending scale on harp, around which Aoife’s fiddle soon floats, the piece slowing and then building, with echoes of different traditional melodies briefing drifting in. Wandering was inspired by the story of bees being taken from Wales to Ireland, and conveys a strong sense of a journey, as it delicately twists and turns, the fiddle whistling like the wind in the Irish Sea.
A new tune, Harmonic Labyrinth, did just what it says on the tin, with hypnotic scales on the harp leading into a march-like section which reaches a pitch, the fiddle in constant conversation, before it softens and slows. Aoife empathised that the title of another new tune, Bright Lights, Smelly Room, inspired by a venue dressing room, was a working title, and invited audience suggestions. It’s an ethereal number, Aoife’s fiddle exquisitely circling Catrin’s particularly piano-like harp. Why, made up of a reworked Breton tune and a reel from Prince Edward Island, saw Catrin in John Martyn territory with an electric guitar-like sound and echo and the fiddle and harp chasing each other through shifts in pace.
Aoife described two sets of tunes as ‘mashups’ of an Irish and a Welsh traditional tune, each a perfect ‘Celtic connection’ that invents something new in the process. Waves starts with the harp playing the Irish tune Galway Bay, soon joined in unison by fiddle, each taking turns to tinker with the melody but carefully not departing far from it. The Welsh tune, Mother-in-Laws Lament, sounds distinctly centuries old and court-like. For the encore, plucked, banjo-sounding fiddle introduces the gorgeous Irish waltz Tabhair Dom Do Lámh (Give Me Your Hand), the first tune in Wish, which they make sound as if it was written specifically for the fiddle/harp combination. It is followed by a more insistent Welsh tune, The Ash Grove. In introducing Wish, Aoife talked about the turmoil and killing of civilians worldwide, their shared belief in the importance of music in crossing and breaking down boundaries, and that the number represented their wish for a peaceful 2025. The audience clearly appreciated the sentiment.
The duo’s synergy on stage was palpable as they navigated through an eclectic mix of both original compositions and innovative reworkings of traditional melodies. With its resonant timbre, Catrin’s mastery of the Welsh harp intertwines seamlessly with Aoife’s deft fiddle playing, creating a rich tapestry of sound that thoroughly captivated the audience.