The idea behind this CD was to take three great young traditional fiddlers whose musical styles and backgrounds were rooted in different parts of Scotland and who were not in the habit of playing together: get each of them to choose some tunes, then, allowing only a short time to rehearse, record them while everything was still fresh and exciting. I really enjoyed producing this album and Jennifer,Julia, Allan and Sandy had a great time too which I think shines through in the music........Simon Thoumire
This CD features four young Scottish musicians: three fiddlers and a guitarist. It was produced by Simon Thoumire, whose vision was to bring some young fiddlers together from different regions of Scotland and have them work out a number of tunes in fairly short order, thus maintaining the original flash of excitement. Joining guitarist Sandy Wright [who has recorded on Thoumire’s CD’s] are Jennifer Wrigley [a BBC ‘Young Tradition’ winner] from the Orkney Islands], Allan Henderson [a member of Blazin’ Fiddles, from the Western Highlands] and Julia Legge [a founding member of Tannas from Montrose on the East coast]. The material includes 14 sets of instrumentals, about half of them traditional and the rest by people like Jerry Holland, J. Scott Skinner and band members Wrigley and Henderson. They get of to a dazzling start on ‘The fashion o’ the lassies/St. Kilda Wedding’, with the swing-jazz guitar racing the fiddles through the track. This dandy interplay of fiddles and guitar continues through to the last track. ‘The Hills of glen Orchy’, where the guitar sets the rhythm and reasserts it during a mid-tune break. Other standouts include the languid melancholy of ‘Fali o Ro’ and the sinewy ;The Horse of Copinsay’. It would be interesting to know who brought which tunes to the group, but I’m just glad they got together in the first place.
The sheer love of the music and the joy come through here......
Take three young fiddle players from different parts of Scotland, add one gentle acoustic guitar, and the result is magic. Allan Henderson is from the West Highlands, Jennifer Wrigley is from Orkney, and Julia Legge is from Edinburgh. There’s intelligent and very musical playing, with sometimes a little classical vibrato, but lovely strathspeys and razor sharp changes of tempo. The sheer love of the music and the joy come through here: no gimmicks, nothing forced and delightfully sweet tone. My favourite is a great joint version of the Jerry Holland classic, My Cape Breton Home, which has been clanging round the back of the skull for over two weeks. This is a real musicians’ collection, with accuracy in bowing and lovely triplets in numbers like The Rose among the Heather, how do they get that special pipes-like effect on the fiddles? Whenever I next stagger home from an over-amplified and smoky gig, I know I’ll have antidote here to remind me what simple, lovely music can sound like. John Brophy, Irish Music Magazine
|