Product Description
"Bonny Portmore", Irish Traditional for Euphonium Quartet, arranged by Sarah Houle, 2021.
This arrangement follows the lyrics to this tune somewhat, and tells a short story:
The intro is tensely burning with tones clashing and harsh against each other. The sad, but beautiful melody is there, but the harmonies signify the occurrence of a tragic event. "Oh, bonny Portmore, I am sorry to see such a woeful destruction of your ornament tree. For it stood on your shore for many's the long day 'till the long boats from Antrim came to float it away."
Eventually, a memory of what once was is triggered and the music flows on lushly. "Oh, bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand, and the more I think on you, the more I think long. If I had you now as I had once before, all the lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore."
A rumbling return to reality and the melodic memory becomes the ashes of the present time. "All the birds in the forest, they bitterly weep. Saying, "Where shall we shelter or where shall we sleep?" For the Oak and the Ash, they are all cutten down and the walls of bonny Portmore are all down to the ground."
The piece ends midway through the first melodic statement. "Oh, bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand and the more I think on you, the more I think long."
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