The song "Star of County Down" has been recorded by a number of Irish groups, with a lot more variation between the recordings than I would have imagined. The lyrics describe the romantic pursuit of a particularly attractive Irish girl, who is described as the "star" of County Down, located in Northern Ireland. My son, Stephen, shared with me a recording by a band called "The High Kings", from their album Memory Lane, that shifted effortlessly between 6/8 and cut time, punctuated by 3 repeated chords at each transition. This recording fired my imagination and the composition process began! You can hear these transition chords in "Gaelic Rhapsody", as we move across the time signatures. Rose suggested a beautiful Irish ballad called "A Chomaraigh Aoibhinn O" for inclusion in the lyrical section of the piece.
Notes by Thomas Bough
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