‘this extraordinary concert artist plays the Irish harp as though she has a third arm with which to obtain dozens of chromaticisms’ — Giorgio Calcara, Keltika Magazine, Italy
‘O’Farrell’s transformation of the harp from an instrument of gentility to one steeped in an earthy sensuality is remarkable’ — Siobhán Long
‘Bright, effortless and cheerful playing from beginning to end’ — Fintan Vallelly
‘This virtuoso harpist magically brought a richly decorated soundworld into being’ — Ostschweizer Tagesblatt
Contemporary duos performing erudite repertoires on the Irish harp are a rarity. Loitering in their company for an entire album is akin to navigating a path back in time, but with one foot still firmly planted in the present. Cormac De Barra and Anne-Marie O’Farrell have let enough grass grow beneath their feet to ensure they’re keenly attuned to one another’s stylistic idiosyncrasies. They’ve chosen to stretch what could have been a cosy Carolan repertoire to embrace the European classical tradition, all the while mining the nethermost regions of their instruments, so that their reading of Carlos Salzedo’s Chanson dans la Nuit is a revelatory melding of creative energy and lateral thinking. A collection that promises to lure classical, traditional and contemporary music lovers harpwards.
Siobhán Long, The Irish Times 29-7-2005
Here is affirmation of Irishness, thus O’Carolan features strongly, in refreshing variety, briskly paced. Such tempi match O’Farrell’s other selections — Paddy Fahy’s Jig and the Gander in the Pratie Hole jig sets. Bright, effortless and cheerful playing from beginning to end; interesting syncopations and odd notes about. Ellen Cranitch’s flute joins in a terrific, biting Fanny Power with jazz extrapolation, Conor Guilfoyle and Brian Fleming give just a hint of percussion, Cormac De Barra enteres on harp for Miss McDermot and Lady Gethin.
Fintan Valelly, The Irish Times, 6-3-1998
Reviews of Anne-Marie O’Farrell’s performances
‘unfailingly musical’ — Martin Adams, The Irish Times
Double Strung CD
Anne-Marie O’Farrell & Cormac De Barra
The Jig’s Up CD
Anne-Marie O’Farrell
Full-blooded and feisty, Ellen Cranitch and Anne-Marie O’Farrell launched the autumn series of concerts at Airfield House with a mix of panache and chutzpah. Visiting their flute and harp upon a wilfully eclectic selection of pieces, running the gamut of classical, traditional and jazz, this is a duo who fear nothing of thumbing noses to boundaries or giving short shrift to received wisdom-at least when it comes to selecting their repertoire.
Perched in the welcoming bosom of Airfield House, the pair set to with a lissom reading of Glück’s baroque Dance of the Blessed Spirits. Cranitch’s flute asserted its fluent authority, the intricate manoeuvrings of Bach’s Sonata No. 4 providing the perfect match to her dexterous control. O’Farrell’s transformation of the harp from instrument of gentility to one steeped in an earthy sensuality was remarkable, and largely went unheralded by this most self-effacing of musicians. Her mastery of both the classical and Irish folk harps jettisoned all associations of the instrument with singing nuns and holy ground. Instead, with rhythmic sensibilities that would put Buddy Rich to shame, she jousted with Cranitch immaculately through each and every jazz inflection of Wayne Shorter’s Footsteps and Kurt Weill’s standard Speak Low.
Their traditional pieces were shot through with magnetic shards of diskinetic rhythms. O’Farrell’s original Heir Conditioning floated well beyond the confines of its bookends, courtesy of The Song of the Chanter, the former cutting through Cranitch’s tempestuous flute with ease.
That such heights should be scaled on the opening night is testament to the delights of Airfield’s genteel splendour. And Cranitch and O’Farrell paid due tribute to their host, airing a gorgeous piece, Torque, especially written for the occasion.
Carolan’s Fanny Power sounded their departure. Lateral thinking and free ranging, it breathed deep of the passions – a mighty fine evening.
Siobhán Long, The Irish Times, 1 October, 2001
