Heathery Breeze

Irish flutist Matt Molloy is best known as a member of the Chieftains, but his solo albums are deserving of much more attention than they generally get. On Heathery Breeze Molloy is accompanied only sparely, by Donal Lunny on guitar, bouzouki, and synthesizer and, on a couple of tracks, by guitarist Michael O'Domhnaill. The album opens with one of the most beautiful tunes in the Irish repertoire, "Moving Cloud," which Molloy plays with offhanded grace at a hair-raising tempo; he dispatches "The Bush in Bloom" and the title track with similar ease and aplomb. But the album's most inspiring moments come later, when the tempos ease and the mood darkens a bit. Molloy's mid-tempo interpretations of the modal slip jigs "Silver Slipper" and "Frieze Britches" are revelatory, as is his highly ornamented but generally restrained rendition of "The Hare in the Heather." The album ends with an almost hornpipey take on a reel entitled "Spoil the Dance." Very highly recommended, though not to Irish flutists with tender egos.