When I played harp as a child, the name Turlough O’Carolan, to me, meant an endless collection of sprightly little melodies I was forced to perform at holiday gatherings when the Irish half of my family wanted to get back to their roots (read: drink). Turlough O’Carolan, born in the seventeenth century, was a poor man who, when he lost his sight at the age of eighteen, set off with harp, horse, and helper to travel all over Ireland playing original melodies for his countrymen. His songs were so loved that they were passed down through the generations by rote until they were later written down and published. I learned O’Carolan pieces since, I was told, that is what one does when one plays the harp, and performed them reluctantly, with a yawn, because I preferred the more modern compositions of the French impressionists.

Fourteen of the twenty-six songs here were written by O’Carolan, Ireland’s only true national composer, and the rest are collected from here and there, as folk songs often are. The better part of traditional Irish music is made up of short songs, usually inspired, as their titles inform, by simple concepts like “Lament,” “The Spinning Wheel,” and (my favorite) “Carolan’s Quarrel with the Landlady.” Van Voorhees shows off a variety of possible harp techniques, arranging many of the songs herself, and executing every one with impeccable emotive quality. Each song paints the picture of a person, place, or feeling that once was, and never will be again. The memories are built into the music. So, where the modern musician might be bored with a collection of old folk tunes which have been arranged, rearranged, performed, and recorded regularly over the centuries, the nostalgic soul will feast on its richness. I find myself joining the latter camp these days if only because I now realize that Celtic music, written on and for harp, is the perfect style to expose the raw beauty of an instrument that needs no frills. In this music, I see green rolling hills and feel cold mornings with grey skies. I hear the bittersweet story of a culture so rich in tradition that the sound of it humbles me with the wisdom of the ages.