Rakes of Mallow

The piece moves at a fast, cheerful clip in a dancing meter, carrying forward the same energetic, folk tune in fresh clothes approach Anderson used throughout the Irish Suite. The melody, an old reel or jig tune tied to the town of Mallow in County Cork, is stated plainly near the start and then tossed between different sections of the orchestra as the piece proceeds, each appearance dressed in slightly different orchestral color even though the tune itself stays largely the same. Expect crisp, transparent scoring, bright winds and strings trading the melody with occasional support from light percussion, all in service of a quick, good humored showpiece rather than a piece built for emotional depth. There is little harmonic surprise or slow reflection here; the interest lies almost entirely in rhythmic drive and orchestral color, the tune bouncing along at a steady, infectious tempo from beginning to end. The piece closes briskly, without a long build up, in keeping with its brief, high spirited character as one movement within a larger set of similarly compact folk tune arrangements.

The Rakes of Mallow is a traditional Irish dance tune associated with the town of Mallow in County Cork, its title referring to fashionable, high spirited young men once linked with the town's social life. Leroy Anderson included it as one of six traditional Irish melodies he orchestrated in 1947 into his Irish Suite, a work written for the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler that let Anderson bring his gift for bright, economical orchestration to tunes he had not composed himself. Alongside pieces like The Irish Washerwoman, it shows a different side of Anderson's output from his own original novelties, one built on giving fresh orchestral life to older folk material rather than inventing new melodies.