If, as is often said, Moore did for Irish song what Burns did for Scottish, he brought to it (on the showing of these lyrics) a less robust spirit and a more Anglicized style. The emotions are most characteristically those of an affection tinged with regret. The verses lend themselves to a gentle tune, the diction needs no footnotes, and the sentiments find expression in a well-balanced, modestly aphoristic classicism. Yet the appeal in its time was romantic: into the drawing-room came a breeze from the countryside, with an agreeable scent of times past and places unknown, where the hearts of young lovers would “mingle Love’s language with Sorrow’s deep tone”. His liberalism is contented here to fashion, with his minstrel-boy, a voice “for the pure and free”, but to leave its message in general terms; and his nationalism at its most fervent goes no further than likening Erin’s hopes to the rainbow, of which the “various tints unite” to form “one arch of peace”.
Immensely popular in the mid-nineteenth century, the ten volumes of Moore’s Irish Melodies consisted of poems written to suit traditional airs collected and provided with simple accompaniments by Sir John Stevenson, on whose death in 1833 the task fell to Sir Henry Bishop. Some of the tunes (most famously “The Last Rose of Summer”) remain part of common knowledge. Some may be more familiar in other connections: for instance, “The Pretty Girl Milking the Cows”, also used in “The Song of O’Ruark”, has been adapted for “Terence’s Farewell to Kathleen”, and Stanford used “Bob and Joan” (the air to “Fill the Bumper Fair”) in his song “Trotting to the Fair”. All have a simple, wholesome appeal, uncontrived and unmawkish.
The performances admirably match the spirit of the originals. The voices are used in a good drawing-room style, with Rufus Muller’s tenor particularly mellifluous in tone and easy in usage. The instruments do most to give the recital its special flavour. The bell-like sound of the metal-strung harp is most distinctive, and Giles Lewin’s fiddle solos are delightful. Timothy Roberts, as pianist and director, earns gratitude, and recording and presentation are up to the company’s customary high standard.'