Coverdrive Records - Celtic Legend: Tristan and Isolde

Celtic Legend - 'Tristan and Isolde'

'Tristan and Isolde' was Celtic Legend's first release. It's a series of songs and pieces of music based on the ancient Cornish legend of the love affair between a Cornish prince, Tristan, and an Irish princess, Isolde. Their relationship was complicated somewhat by the fact that Isolde was already betrothed to Tristan's uncle, Mark, the King of Cornwall. Needless to say the whole thing ended badly in sorrow and death. A version of this legend of course also appears in the Arthurian story of Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere.

The original idea behind Celtic Legend was that it was NOT going to be a band in the traditional sense with a fixed line-up; instead its founder, Chris Payne, enivisaged it as a type of artistic collective spanning film as well as music. Consequently on this recording there is no 'lead vocalist' as such, rather different singers take different roles.


'Tristan and Isolde' Track List The Legend Prince of Lyonesse Journey to Tintagel A Lovers Song Tell me the Secret Kings Leap of Faith The Dance of Ogrin The Forest of Moresk The Last Goodbye Battle of Carhaix Why me? La Mort de Tristan Long is the Night The Vine and the Rose Ysolt y'nn Gweinten	The credits are as follows: Music composed by: Chris Payne and Franck Hemard English lyrics by: Peter Sarstedt Cornish lyrics by: Tim Saunders Narrated by: Patrick Bergin as Beroul the poet Principal singers: Tristan: Jim Carey Isolde: Deirdre Shannon (credited as Deirdre Gilsenan) King Mark: Arthur Brown Iseult of the white hands: Tina Leppard Spirit of Isolde: Gwenno Saunders Chorus singers: Simon Birch, Guillaume Duval, Sophie le Gal, Francis Calavia and Dominique Adam Musicians: Francis Calavia: Irish whistle, bazouki, mandolin, uilean pipes and bodran. Franck Hemard: Keyboards, classical guitar and lute. Chris Payne: Piano, violin, mandolin, recorders, crumhorn, bamboo pipe, acarina and bass cornamuse. Andy Brodie: Acoustic guitars. Marcus Penrose: Bass guitar. Jean-Luc Hometier: Bass guitar on 'Why me?' Dave Cobby: Drums. Jim Carey: Percussion. Nigel Bates: Chapman sticks, acoustic guitar and percussion. The album was produced and recorded by Chris Payne and Nigel Bates and was mixed and mastered by Nigel Bates at the Beat-Poets studios in Lewes, Sussex and Dordogne, France. This particular album has an interesting history because it was actually released twice! It was originally released in 2003 and a promotional tour of radio stations was undertaken, but then Chris decided it needed re-working! The re-recorded and re-engineered version (complete with a new sleeve) was released in 2005. It was at this point that the Cornish language song, Ysolt y'nn Gweinten, was added. This proved to be so popular that it became Celtic Legend (and Coverdrive's) first video release. 'Tristan and Isolde' is dedicated to the memory of Francis Calavia and John Pettit. Click here to return to the Celtic Legend home page
2008 Well Played Music Ltd