Ancient Irish Airs and Dances: 201 Classic Tunes Arranged for Piano

From the hopeful anticipation of “Mary, do you fancy me?” to the bitterness of “Hag, you’ve killed me,” this extraordinary compilation of Irish melodies runs the emotional gamut, with melancholy airs and sprightly reels aplenty. Its source material, The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland, ranks among the most important 19th-century collections of traditional Irish music, with its song texts in both Irish and English, plus George Petrie’s detailed notes about the music’s origins.