In 1983, Patrick Ball recorded his first album, The Music of Turlough O'Carolan: Celtic Harp Volume I (17005-2) and brought alive the legendary sound of the wire-strung celtic harp and the compositions of its most celebrated master.Over the next two decades, he recorded seven more tremendously popular celtic harp albums for the Celestial Harmonies/Fortuna Records label, performed thousands of concerts, and wrote and performed two acclaimed solo musical theater pieces in regional repertory theaters throughout the United States.
Whether in the recording studio, the concert hall or the theatrical stage, the celtic harp was always central and the praise unanimous. Variety enthused, "Hauntingly beautiful...a gem of a show." The Oakland Tribune described a recent performance as "...soothing, thrilling and haunting....one glorious tune after another." The Courier Journal of Louisville, KY described Patrick's playing as "ethereally gorgeous...almost a spiritual experience." And the Washington Post found the recordings full of "transporting lyricism and charm."
Now, to celebrate twenty years since the release of his first landmark album, Celestial Harmonies presents Music on the Wind: Selected Pieces 1983-2003. Included are 22 tracks drawn from all of Patrick's albums - the tunes that most enchanted his listeners. Of this release, Patrick writes:
"There is an old Irish legend that tells of a fiddler who would sit and listen at certain gentle places in the countryside and hear drifts of music on the wind. He didn't compose this music. It was given to him as a gift.
I would love to be able to say that I heard the tunes on this album rising out of the mists of Ireland. In truth, I heard them from fiddlers, pipers, flute players, and harpers, all of whom received them from musicians before them.
When I was asked to select my favorite pieces from all my recordings for this album, I thought it would be a difficult business. In the end, it turned out to be fairly simple. I sat and listened. And chose these. To me, they are all gifts, all music on the wind."
Patrick Balls other recordings on Fortuna Records and Celestial Harmonies include The Music of Turlough O'Carolan: Celtic Harp Volume I (17005-2), From A Distant Time: Celtic Harp Volume II (17011-2), Secret Isles: Celtic Harp Volume III (17029-2), O'Carolan's Dream: Celtic Harp Volume IV (17062-2), The Christmas Rose (17077-2), Fiona (13065-2), Storyteller: Gwilan's Harp & Other Celtic Tales (13100-2), James Joyce: Finnegans Wake, Excerpts Read by Patrick Ball (14113-2) and Fair Play (13178-2).
