Category: Chamber Music / Arrangement
Instrumentation: flute and guitar
Duration: 6 minutes
Difficulty: Intermediate
Publisher: ALRY Publications / UMMP Music, FG12
Source: Four tunes by Turlough O’Carolan

Included Tunes:
Blind Mary
Carolan’s Concerto
Sheebeg and Sheemore
Carolan’s Draught

A Touch O’Carolan is a freely arranged medley for flute and guitar based on four tunes by the 18th-century Irish harpist Turlough O’Carolan. The work brings together several contrasting musical characters, offering a lively and affectionate treatment of traditional Irish melody with a subtle Baroque influence.

Because O’Carolan’s original melodies were written without harmonies, Baxter supplies the harmonic language, counterpoint, and ornamentation while remaining close to the source tunes. The melodies are shared between flute and guitar, creating an engaging chamber dialogue that preserves the folk character of the originals while giving them a polished recital form.

Written at an intermediate level, A Touch O’Carolan is a spirited and accessible work for flute and guitar duo. Its mixture of Irish folk melody, Baroque color, ornamentation, and shared melodic material makes it especially effective for recital programs, folk-inspired concerts, and flute-guitar repertoire collections.