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Track(s) taken from SIGCD087

Scotch minstrelsy

composer
1982
author of text

Andrew Kennedy (tenor), Iain Burnside (piano)
Recording details: November 2005
The Warehouse, Waterloo, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Clive Portbury & Tony Sellors
Engineered by Michael Bacon
Release date: November 2006
Total duration: 13 minutes 25 seconds
 

Reviews

'Judith Weir brings out the very best in musical performers' (Gramophone)

'Along with pianist Iain Burnside, the performances by mezzo Susan Bickley, soprano Ailish Tynan and tenor Andrew Kennedy match the jewel-like clarity of the songs' (The Guardian)» More

Scotch minstrelsy (1982) was commissioned by Glasgow University’s McEwan Bequest for the tenor Neil Mackie, whose simple and unaffected performances of Scottish folk songs I greatly admired. Intending to write a companion piece for this pleasant repertoire, I made a selection of much abbreviated Border Ballads; but on closer examination, the grisly happenings of these familiar poems came as a shock, and the resulting songs are histrionic and nervous, though framed by ‘beautiful’ piano accompaniments, just as Scotland’s violent past is obscured by its abundant scenery.

from notes by Judith Weir © 2006

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