Hail Caledonia - Scotland in Music
City of Glasgow Pipe Band
City of Glasgow Chorus
City of Glasgow Philharmonic Orchestra/Iain Sutherland
rec. live, 1995-96, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Reviewed as downloaded from press preview
SOMM ARIADNE 5014 [79:32]
The main object of this recording, originally set down during 1995-96, seems to be the equivalent of a tourist brochure in blazing colours: to entice visitors from abroad to indulge in all the fascinating sights north of Hadrian’s Wall. Being Scandinavian myself I thought I would be a kind of target person, and thus decdided to review this issue. I hasten to add that I’m not completely unfamiliar with either Scotland or Scottish music. In my youth I spent almost two weeks traversing Scotland by car with two friends, and I have vivid memories of the landscape, which after all has similarities with Scandinavia. My most vivid, and to be sure, the most weird memory, was when we were driving northwards through a heavenly beautiful mountainous area, in early August, heather filled every nook and cranny of the landscape, and we could inhale the flavour through the open car window. Not a building within eyesight. Suddenly we approached a Y-shaped crossroads, and in the middle of the Y was a big rock. On that rock stood a highlander in traditional outfit, playing his bagpipe! We never stopped and the piper played on, seemingly unaware of our existence. Was he there as a symbol, employed by the tourist authorities, or was he simply a fanatic piper, whose tortured wife finally had thrown him out of the house? Whatever the reason, he came to mind when I heard the opening Black Bear Salute with bagpipes, a stirring start to this programme.
Robert Docker’s Abbey Craig, a ghost-like march which gives a creepy feeling of haunted castles, further adds to the atmosphere. Ernest Tomlinson produced loads of attractive light music – a genre that seems to have grown again lately. The good humoured Cumberland Square demonstrates his skills at instrumentation. Eric Coates seldom disappoints and the idyllic pastoral Elisabeth of Glamis is definitely music from his top drawer. Tourism was in its infancy 200 years ago, when Felix Mendelssohn visited Scotland, and he was inspired to two of his very best works, The Hebrides and his third symphony, The Scottish, and it is the scherzo from that symphony that depicts both the beauty and the wilderness of the landscape.
Two TV themes from bygone days are also included. Arthur Blake’s Take the High Road was one of Scottish TV’s longest running drama series – 23 years – and it certainly paints the grandeur of the Highland. Hamish McCunn passed away in 1916, long before TV was invented, but his pompous Land of the Mountain and the Flood found a new lease of life as theme for BBC’s Sutherland’s Law, which ran between 1973 and 1976.
Robert Docker conjures up fairies dancing an airy and weightless reel, before the conductor Iain Sutherland presents his Three Scottish Castles. The castles are as musically imposing as are the models (I’ve only seen the Edinburgh Castle “live”). Stirling Castle is soundwise like a tourist film – and of course it makes one wish to be there. Dunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye, is painted as a saga-idyll – and it is, embedded in vegetation and mirroring itself in water. The Edinburgh Castle is of course the world famous arena, with tattoos and parades, showy and entertaining. I wish I were back there!
A great contrast follows. Alexander McKenzie, born in Edinburgh, was one of those responsible for the renaissance of British music during the second half of the 19th century – by the side of Parry and Stanford. Benediktus is not a sacred piece initially – it was originally written for violin and piano but later orchestrated and presented by Henry Wood at the Proms in 1895. Wood said: “It is the work of a master’s hand”. I’m willing to agree. It is noble and beautiful and makes time stand still. It is a piece I’ll be returning to with pleasure many times.
Granville Bantock, though born in London, was also of Scottish decent, and here he has based his composition on a traditional Scottish waulking song, sung by women while treating rough clothes.
Malcolm Arnold’s dances from various parts of the British isles are charming counterparts to his symphonic output, and Hebrides is certainly one of his most beautiful creations. As usual his orchestrations are superb.
The three concluding pieces, Flower of Scotland, the evergreen Amazing Grace and Ian Whyte’s Devil’s Finale are all met with applause, but apart from the opening of the concert the audiernce is well-behaved.
And how did I react? Was I triggered to return to Scotland after all those years as an old man? Well, I certainly enjoyed most of the programme, and I’m certain that many readers will like this compilation as much as I did. And since most of the Corona restrictions seemingly will cease before long, it could be an enticing project. And I wonder if that mysterious highlander will still be standing there on his rock, playing his bagpipe …
Göran Forsling
Contents
1. The Black Bear Salute (arr. Iain Sutherland) [3:43]
Robert DOCKER (1918 – 1992)
2. Abbey Craig (Scots Wha Hae) [2:47]
Ernest TOMLINSON (1924-2015)
3. Cumberland Square [3:07]
(My love she’s but a lassie yet/Cock o’ the North)
Eric COATES (1886-1957)
4. Elizabeth of Glamis [7:44]
(Springtime in Angus)
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809 – 1847)
5. Symphony No.3, ‘Scottish’ – Scherzo [4:30]
Arthur BLAKE (1925 – 1994)
6. Take the High Road Theme [2:51]
Hamish McCUNN (1868 – 1916)
7. Sutherland’s Law Theme [3:40]
(Land of the Mountain and the Flood arr. Iain Sutherland)
Robert DOCKER
8. Faery Dance Reel [2:33]
Iain SUTHERLAND (b.1936)
Three Scottish Castles [11:58]
9. Stirling Castle: Gateway to the Highlands [3:52]
10. Dunvegan Castle, Isle of Skye [3:47]
11. Edinburgh Castle, Princes Street [4:18]
Alexander McKENZIE (1847-1935)
12. Benedictus [7:10]
Granville BANTOCK (1868-1946)
13. Kishmul’s Galley [4:22]
Malcolm ARNOLD (1921-2006)
Four Scottish Dances [9:22]
14. Strathspey [1:55]
15. Reel [2:19]
16. Hebrides [3:47]
17. Highland Fling [1:19]
Roy WILLIAMSON (1936-1990)
18. Flower of Scotland (arr. Iain Sutherland) [5:22]
19. Amazing Grace Trad. arr. Iain Sutherland [3:12]
Ian WHYTE (1901-1960)
20. Devil’s Finale [6:23]
Reel o' Tulloch (from Donald of the Burthens)
