Jordi Savall is one of the most revered figures of the early music revival. For half a century Savall, the world’s foremost master of the majestic and haunting viola da gamba, has explored early music from around the globe, reintroducing forgotten works with his long-running group Hespèrion. Savall has made a vast repertoire of music accessible and borderless, a gift to be shared. Like Savall, Carlos Núñez has long championed an obscure instrument, the Galician bagpipes from the Celtic lands that are part of northern Spain. “If it’s possible to become a pop star playing traditional music on bagpipes and recorder, Núñez could be the man,” declared the Los Angeles Times.

In the monumental new collaboration Celtic Universe, Savall and Núñez combine their trios for an expansive exploration of Celtic music across centuries and geographical borders. The six musicians shift configurations for eight themed sets that survey the wildly varied sounds of the Celts — some familiar, such as Irish standards like Archibald MacDonald of Keppoch, and some surprising, such as the songs of Galicia. They sample seventeenth-century viol music, reels, and laments from Ireland and Scotland, then play a selection of Basque songs, before closing with a spirited medley of traditional Irish tunes. Celtic Universe is a revelatory reappraisal of Celtic culture’s breadth and wealth, delivered by six instrumental masters.

Solo for Galician Pipes

The Archibald MacDonald Set:
Traditional Irish: Archibald MacDonald of Keppoch and The Musical Priest/Scotch Mary
Captain Simon Fraser: Caledonia’s Wail for Niel Gow (1816 Collection)
Traditional Irish: Sackow’s Jig

Trio for Treble Viol, Irish Harp & Bodhran

The Galician Set:
En Querer
Alalá Canto de cuna
Maruxina

The Lancashire Pipes: Selections from The Manchester Gamba Book (ca. 1640)
A Pointe or Preludium – The Lancashire Pipes
The Pigges of Rumsey – Kate of Bardie
Traditional Irish: The Cup of Tea
A Toy

Flowers of Edinburg:
Charlie Hunter: The Hills of Lorne
Traditional Reel: The Flowers of Edinburg
Niel Gow: Lament for the Death of his Second Wife
Traditional Hornpipe: Fisher’s Hornpipe
Tomas Anderson: Peter’s Peerie Boat

The Donegal Set:
Traditional Irish: The Tuttle’s Reel
Traditional Scottish: Lady Mary Hay’s Scots Measure
Turlough O’Carolan: Planxty Irwin
Jimmy Holme’s Favorite
Traditional Donegal: Gusty’s Frolics

O’Carolan’s Harp:
Feeghan Geleash (Ireland, Bunting MS)
Molly McAlpin Turlough O’Carolan: Carolan’s Dream
Traditional Scottish: The Reel of Tullochgorum

Celtic Universe — Brittany and the Basque Country:
Breton: O Soñjal Gwerz
Kunplitzekoa
Basque Lullaby: Austxo txikia negarrez
Biribilke

Irish Landscapes:
Turlough O’Carolan: The Lamentation of Owen Roe O’Neil
The Hills of Ireland
The Morning Dew
Apples in the Winter
The Rocky Road to Dublin
The Kid on the Mountain
Morrison’s Jig