If I close my eyes while listening, Ronn is seated fifteen feet in front of me. Sono Luminus prides itself on the quality of their recording, mastering and production and they have the awards to show for it.

This means the recorded sound does not get much better than this. So what is the album like? Sonically, it is a typical Sono Luminus release. The album contains 26 tracks totaling 56 minutes. It has been a long drought for those of us who love and are mesmerized by his phenomenal mastery of the lute. His previous solo album was released in 2007. Of these 36 albums The Celtic Lute is his 9th solo album. Most of these albums were either duets with other early music musicians or with ensembles such as Ayreheart or the Baltimore Consort. The other fifteen tracks are arrangements of traditional Irish and Scottish music that have come down through the centuries.įor those of you who have followed the Dorian and Sono Luminus labels since the 1980s you will recognized the name of Ronn McFarlane as his lute playing talent has been recorded on 36 albums from these two labels. One track is the music of James Oswald (1711-1769). Ten of the tracks are the performer’s arrangements of the harp music of Turlough O’Carolan (1670 – 1738). The Celtic Lute contains music of Irish and Scottish origins from the 18th century. It did not reappear until the early music movement started in the second half of the 20th century. By the late 1700s the lute had pretty much disappeared from the music world. While gradually falling out of favor after the Renaissance, the lute was still being widely used during the Baroque period. Though a popular instrument during the Middle Ages, the lute reached its zenith during the Renaissance. The lute is an ancient instrument with its forebearers having been traced back to 3100 BCE in Mesopotamia.

Celtic music definition