Máire Breatnach, the original fiddler in Riverdance, has also played and recorded with Mary Black, Sharon Shannon, Nigel Kennedy and the National Symphony Orchestra. These original compositions sweep through a wide stylistic arc...from slipjigs to waltzes and clan marches, polkas and dance tunes, to slow airs that touch the very fibre of one's being. Twelve instrumental tracks plus two with ethereal and haunting Celtic vocals.
To Máire, "Angels Candles" are the stars in our sky, a series of points of light in a long journey. The first seven pieces recall a child's window of wonder on the night sky, each piece evoking a bedtime story or poem in that mysterious twilight time when the stars are just beginning to appear: Midir and Etain, the Voyage of Bran, the Children of Lir. Here also are the sounds of distant bells, and the icy stillness of winter; the fiery, dancing shooting stars, and the embroidered dark blue velvet cloth of the heavens. The title comes from Maire Mhac an tSaoi's poem, "Oiche Nollag" (Christmas Eve):
The heavens outside are speckled with angels' candles. The frost's tooth in the wind from the hill...
