Maelasta (NSRCD002): What distinguishes this album is the fresh timbral palette of the unusual instrumental combination on the one hand and the surprising, sometimes even willful, but always convincing repertoire, which the duo totally makes their own. Starting with a detailed excursion into the world of the tango and Astor Piazzolla, McAllister and Hetherington turn towards a couple of less obvious, but highly rewarding shorter pieces, including Frederic Mompou’s dreamy “Prelude 5” and a stupendously idiosyncratic renderings of “Cailin na Gruaige Doinne”: Imagine an Irish traditional performed as though it were Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”, the beautiful lament drifting off into a place of quiet sonorities before returning to sad acceptance.
Tobias Fischer, Tokafi

Source: tokafi.com

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Maelasta
Maelasta

Maelasta was formed during the summer of 2003 after a chance meeting between Matthew McAllister, the duo’s guitarist, and violinist Feargus Hetherington. Highlight’s include the duo’s luscious arrangement of Cailín na Gruaige Doinne and equally lyrical arrangements of Piazzolla’s Libertango and Egberto Gismonti’s Agua e Vinho.

Recorded at Crail Parish Church on the 26th March 2005.

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