Altan celebrate 25 years keeping the planet safe for Irish trad with this first full-scale collaboration with the RTE Concert Orchestra. Thus, we not only get one of our most inspirational trad bands ever in sparkling live form, but we also have their finest works transformed by the lovingly sumptuous arrangements of Fiachra Trench. That magical marriage of band, vocalist and orchestra is at its best on ‘I Wish My Love Was A Red Red Rose’. However, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh scales further vocal peaks on tracks like the plaintive Scottish Gaelic ‘Mo Ghaoil’, and ‘Dónal agus Morag’, both boosted by extra lyrics by her father Francie. The band’s playing is equally impeccable, not least on the pensive tribute to Ní Mhaonaigh’s late husband and Altan founder Frankie Kennedy in ‘A Tune for Frankie’. The material has been gathered from far and wide, be it the jaunty tune ‘Is the Big Man Within?’, from Florida via County Clare, or the song ‘Cití na gCumann’ acquired at home in Donegal. A quarter century of Altan is a more than justifiable excuse for a party. Don’t say you weren’t invited.