The final waltz

"Ciaran Algar was just 16 when, along with his duo partner, Greg Russell, he won the BBC 2 Young Folk Award in 2013 ... Now, as if to underline just how productive he can be, Ciaran's recorded The Final Waltz, nominally a solo album but in practice he's assembled a band that includes some of the most talented new arrivals on the folk scene ... Ciaran's prowess on fiddle is well recognised and, naturally enough, the backbone of the album is five tune sets. But with this album, Ciaran has been eager to showcase the growing range of his talents. So, in addition to fiddle, he plays banjo, mandolin, guitars, bouzouki and percussion. He's also written three of the four songs and takes lead vocal on one of them. The resulting mix of material gives fascinating glimpses into his musical journey so far and sets out his stall for the next leg".

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"Since teaming with guitarist Greg Russell (...) Ciaran's attained hottest-property status, and the duo has now two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, two CDs and a live DVD under its belt ... [This solo album includes] three of his own songs within a programme of intelligently-realised instrumental tracks of varying degrees of "traditionality"".