The following are all Mp3 files.Some are full tracks, some are extracts.
Niel Gow's Lament for the Death of his 2nd wife (from the CD, 'The Healing' ~ more). This is Niel Gow's finest composition. It sits beautifully on the lute. I added a bass line, but generally played it very simply. Sometimes you just have to get out of the way and let the music speak for itself...
Peggie I must love thee (from the CD, 'Flowers of the Forest' ~ more). Another of the many, many beautiful airs collected in the late 17th-century, Balcarres manuscript (see illustration of Balcarres House below). As the music fades out, you can just hear the variations starting. You will have to buy the disc to hear them (support your artists!). Variations were all the rage at that time - a lost art in traditional music?
Divertimenti No. X by James Oswald (from the CD, 'Twelve Divertimentis for the Guittar' ~ more). The instrument is the 18th-century wire-strung 'guittar', sometimes refered to as an 18th-century cittern or an English Guitar. Whatever, the first tutor for it was published in Edinburgh by Robert Bremner in 1758, and is full of traditional tunes. James Oswald (a Scot abroad in London) published these divertimenti (short pieces full of contrast) in 1759. Read the reviews on the recordings page.
Nine - by James Robertson and Rob MacKillop (from the CD, 'The Healing' ~ more). James Robertson is one of Scotland's finest contemporary poets. Here he recites his poem, Nine, which is concerned with the execution of nine pro-democracy activists, most notably the poet, Ken Saro-Wiwa, by the Nigerian Government. I used an oud made by Faruk Turunz of Istanbul. The oud part is improvised. I used a compound of the two most popular modes of historical Scottish music - the Mixolydian (on the lower strings) and the Dorian (on the upper strings). The flat third of the Dorian gives a keening, bluesy quality to the improvisation. At one point I start playing a quotation from the great anti-war ballad, Flowers of the Forest. On the day of the executions, James Robertson attended a concert I gave in Edinburgh. The two events fused in his imagination, which then became fully integrated in this one-off performance. In the following photo, the oud (a fretless instrument from Turkey) is on the far right. The instrument on the far left is a diatonic cittern (by Peter Forrester), and the central instrument is a 5-course mandore (also by Peter Forester).
The Isle of Rea - diatonic cittern (see photo above - the cittern is on the far left) (from the CD, 'The Healing' ~ more). This is a beautiful Gaelic-style air from the mid-17th-century cittern manuscript of Robert Edwards, member of the Dundee Town Council, and Minister of The Murroes, a church five miles to the north of Dundee on the east coast of Scotland (where I was born).
The Thrill Is Gone ~ bit of a surprise, this one. I've been a Johnny Winter/Muddy Waters fan since my teens, and play blues guitar for a retreat from the world. This is a recording from the first gig with a band whose name I have forgotten. We only played this one gig, then split. I include it here for amusement, and I quite like to hear it about once a year...I'm playing a '52 Reissue Telecaster through a Peavey Classic 30 amp. What I love about this recording is how the audience are completely ignoring us!
Canarios ~ Espanoleta ~ Pavanas ~ Fuga 1a ~ Folias - of short selection of pieces by Gaspar Sanz played on an original (!) anonymous instrument from the mid eighteenth century. This is not a top quality recording and the strings on the guitar were just about touching the frets, and it was therefore impossible to play without getting a buzzing sound. You have been warned...
Courante from the Panmure 5 Manuscript, Fife, Scotland - This track was rejected for inclusion in The Healing. Musicians are Rob MacKillop (12-course lute) and Steve Player (5-course guitar). We are not 100 per cent together, but it is maybe worth a listen.
