This collection purports
to recreate "the historical context
and ambience of the period" as
would have been the experience of Burns
in his day. This comprehensive selection
of vocal and instrumental music is perhaps
a rather more staid version of communal
music-making of the time – for I imagine
that "wi’ a cog o’ guid swats and
an auld Scotish sang" to say nothing
o’ the lassies, the true ambience would
more likely be found in the village
pub (the ‘coffin’ in John Dowie’s tavern?)
than in the somewhat dry acoustic of
Rosslyn Chapel. Nevertheless this representative
collection provides an excellent survey
of Robert Burns’ lyrics and the traditional
tunes to which he matched them. There
is no questioning the authority of Dr
David Johnson , the artistic director
of the group, whose knowledge of the
subject and his academic purpose – "
to set right the balance, and present
Burns’ songs once more as they were
known to his 18th Century
contemporaries" – is readily demonstrated,
illustrating how expertly the poet’s
lyric fits the tune. Though a far cry
from the boisterous ‘ Merry Muses of
Caledonia’ the roughspun philosophy
of the ‘man of independent mind’ who
‘loves and laughs at a’ that’ is intermingled
with the cheerful ‘I rhyme for fun’
– and includes some very beautiful melodies.
Despite the perennial
airing of "Tam O’Shanter"
and "A man’s a man" at countless
Burns suppers (so denigrated by McDiarmid)
all too few Scots fully comprehend the
purely musical abilities of the poet
and his instinctive feeling for the
melodic procedures of Scottish folk
melody and for the traditional voice
whose roots are nearer the classical.
What is the essence
of Burns? - ‘The Holy Fair’ or ‘The
Jolly Beggars’? Noses have been snootily
lifted over the rough bawdy humour.
Yet Wordsworth’s succinct description
of the essence as "the presence
of human life" is probably the
nearest one gets to the truth. What
Dr Johnson and his party have done is
to strip the melodies of the sugary
tartan coating that in those Burns suppers
has so often turned ‘hamely fare’ into
sanctimonious bathos. And in one or
two instances there are contrasting
examples of Burns’ words being set independently
(in "Clorinda mistress of my Soul"
the Dibdin-esque setting is a good example
of classical procedures, as also in
Masterton’s setting of "The Catrine
Woods")
Interspersed with the
vocal numbers - some unaccompanied (*)
- are a wheen instrumental tunes , some
celebrating the opening of famous bridges
from Burns’ time, and a set of virtuosic
variations on the lovely ‘The Lea Rig’
(played here by Edna Arthur as guest
of the group), and a very moving presentation,
in its original violin and in its cello
guise, of Neil Gow’s "Lamentation
for Abercairney" Little wonder
is it that Burns was so taken with this
fine melody that, despite its rather
unvocal stretches he penned an erotically
charged verse about the revealing of
Peggy’s charms – a subject never far
from his heart.
The whole ‘gallimaufry’
ends in a characteriscally boozy apotheosis,
much closer to the world of ‘The Jolly
Beggars’, - " we arena fou, we’re
nae that fou/ jist a drappie in oor
e’e".
If I found the ambience
to be that of the drawing room rather
than the tavern then the timbre of the
voices, especially the lovely voice
of the soprano, is wholly appropriate
to that setting – and that in this,
different from the overly popular (vulgar)
concept of Burns and his songs, the
ensemble and Dr Johnson succeeds in
presenting that interpretation which
is the intention. A delight for anyone
– not only for the Scot!
Colin Scott-Sutherland
The Musicians of Edinburgh 