Listen to Ann & Charlie playing

Neil Roy

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Duration 0:57
Ann uses her "Coupled Hands" approach to play this traditional Scottish reel. She is accompanied by the bodhran, a frame drum.
This excerpt comes from the CD Héman Dubh by Clairseach (Clairseach Music 1997). Ann Heymann: Gaelic harp. Charlie Heymann: bodhran.

Cormac's Alman

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Duration 1:48.
Almans were stately dances popular at European courts during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. What makes this unique is that it was composed by an Irish harper named Cormac MacDermott from Co. Roscommon who served at the court of James VI of Scotland.
Ann's arrangement is from a compilation of three parts (cantus, tenor, bassus) surviving in partbooks housed at Yale University Library (Filmer ms4). Thanks to Sean Donnelly for his research.
This excerpt comes from the CD Queen of Harps by Ann Heymann (Temple Records 1994)

Baltiorum

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Duration 1:12.
A melody that Edward Bunting collected from harper Thady Conlan in 1831. Though said to be a song praising the Fire-God Baal, that attribution cannot be derived from the title, which simply means "Place of the Song House". It used to be sung at the St. John's Eve (midsummer) bonfires.
This excerpt comes from the CD The Harpers Land by Ann Heymann and Alison Kinnaird (Temple Records 1983).

Scott's Lamentation

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Duration 0:40
Composed by 16th century Co. Westmeath harper John Scott for Thomas Purcell, Baron of Loughmoe. Bunting collected this from Denis O'Hampsey, but this is not one of his published versions. It has been reconstructed from markings in Bunting's earliest transcriptions and a familiarity with O'Hampsey's techniques. Ann performs it on a copy of O'Hampsey's "Downhill" harp using the na comhluighe tuning published by Bunting.
This excerpt comes from the CD Queen of Harps by Ann Heymann (Temple Records 1994)

Aililiú ó Íosa (Ann with the Rose Ensemble)

MP3 download from Abbie Betini's website: "Aililiú ó Íosa" is at the top of the list. Click links on the right for a review, the mp3 ("Audio"), the score ("Score 1 in pdf) and the composer's notes on the pieces.

Aililiú ó Íosa is a three part composition by Abbie Betinis to complement Ireland's earliest fully extant medieval drama that reenacts the Easter story of Christ's death and resurrection. The composition was premiered by The Rose Ensemble with Ann Heymann (Gaelic harp), Ginna Watson (vielle), Matt Jenson (choreography), Jeff Bartlett (lighting design) and The New and Slightly Used Dance Company on April 8, 2005 in their presentation of Visitatio Sepulchri-The Dublin Mystery Play. The Gaelic harp is heard in the first movement, "An Caoineadh," sung by the keening Virgin Mary, who has not yet heard of her son's resurrection. Its text is taken from one of many recorded versions of Mary's lamentation, and the piece's introduction uses the Alleluia from another (Seacht nDólás na Maighdine Muire or The Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary).