Fresh at 40, Lively Chieftains Play the Bowl

Good old Paddy Moloney. Count on him and the Chieftains to come up with an exhilarating new Celtic entertainment, no matter how many times one has seen the veteran Irish band.

On Friday, the first of two shows at the Hollywood Bowl, the veteran ensemble and their leader--celebrating a 40th anniversary--combined with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (conducted by Randall Craig Fleischer), the Los Angeles Scots Pipe Band, a troupe of talented step dancers and guest artists Patty Griffin and Mark Isham to offer a nonstop array of high-spirited music, movement and color.

What makes the Chieftains so special, however, is not solely their ability to find new ways to entertain. It is their capacity to do so, in every imaginable setting, without losing touch with their traditional roots.

An opening segment of jigs and reels--led by Moloney’s piping and the always superb flute work of Martin Fay and fiddle playing of Sean Keane--was an immediate reminder of the deep-seated sources of the group’s creative energies.

Another tradition-related high point was a touching pennywhistle solo by Moloney of the old lament “Taimse mo Codhladh” (I Am Asleep, Do Not Wake Me)--a number he performed in September at Manhattan’s ground zero.

Ancient themes also drifted in and out of the band’s performance with the Philharmonic of excerpts from the score for the PBS television special “Long Journey Home” intermingling the sprightly jig “The Night Larry Was Stretched” with a tenderly lyrical rendering of the American ballad, “Shenandoah.”

Further illustrating the versatility of the Chieftains and Celtic music, the program included “Planxty Mozart,” Moloney’s whimsical combining of segments from the Rondo of the Mozart Horn Concerto No. 2 with the Irish jig “The Piper’s Chair.” The evening wrapped with an everyone-join-in finale featuring the Chieftains, the Philharmonic, the Scots Pipe Band, dancers and singers.

Adding the final topping to a marvelous Bowl program, the fireworks--which were delivered to the accompaniment of the Philharmonic’s performance of Leroy Anderson’s “The Girl I Left Behind Me” (from his “Irish Suite”).

It provided an especially appealing panorama filled with subtle combinations of fire, flame, light and sound.