The English words of My Lagan love, attributed to Joseph Campbell, are so evocative that one can almost smell the peat (it is a pity that Roger Quilter only set examples of his poorest work), and contain elements of the faery lover, a prevalent theme in folklore. They are set to an air collected in Donegal in 1903 by his colleague Herbert Hughes, but which appears to date from at least the 19th century. The song reached many shores through John McCormack’s 1910 recording, and was also disseminated by Margaret Barry, a charismatic Irish street-singer with a declamatory yet nuanced delivery of raw authenticity, who apparently learned it by listening at the door of a record shop to McCormack’s account. Paul Drayton recalls some of the freedom of improvisatory ornamentation in his richly sonorous, finely crafted arrangement.

from notes by Andrew Plant © 2019