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]
This wonderful conspectus of music evokes or celebrates Scotland. The eagle-eyed reader will note that the composers are not all Scottish: a few hail from England and one was born in Hamburg. The entire product, then, is Nationalist, Unionist and European! I understand that many of these pieces were issued on Rel/River Records (RECD 563 & 564 - reviewed on these pages in 2010), but there are no dates, so I cannot confirm that these are the same recordings.
The Black Bear Salute is “reputedly the fastest regimental march in the British Army” but the liner notes do not name the regiment. I believe it is the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch. The salute is played here in Iain Sutherland’s sumptuous arrangement for bagpipes and full orchestra.
William Wallace and his striking monument in Stirlingshire are the subject of Robert Docker’s Abbey Craig. A well-known Scottish anthem is deployed here: Scots Wha Hae. This well-wrought little number fairly bounces along. One is struck by the inspired and imaginative orchestration of this bit of tartanry.
Furth of the border for Ernest Tomlinson’s gay Cumberland Square dance, which uses the Scottish tunes My Love She's but a Lassie Yet and the Cock o' the North. It has been noted that both tunes work well in counterpoint as heard in the conclusion of this sparkling little dance.
Eric Coates’s Springtime in Angus is one of the finest “light” tone poems ever written by a British composer. It hails from the Three Elizabeths Suite of 1944, which honours Elizabeth I, Elizabeth the Queen Mother and our present Monarch (then Princess Elizabeth). It does exactly what it says on the tin, conjuring a dreamy mood of the countryside in and around Glamis Castle in County Angus. Although no local tunes are introduced, Coates makes many subtle allusions to Scottish music. It is one of my Desert Island Discs.
Little need be said about Felix Mendelssohn’s Third Symphony “Scottish.” It has held its place in the repertoire of orchestras since its premiere on 3 March 1842 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. The second movement, the lively Scherzo, nods towards Scottish folk music with a characteristic use of the pentatonic scale (black notes on the piano) and the “Scotch Snap”.
I never watched/followed the 1980s TV series Take the High Road, a Scottish soap opera set in the fictional village of Glendarroch. Arthur Blake’s eponymous theme-tune ticks all the boxes for “encapsulating…the character and style of contemporaneous rural Scottish life”.
I was disappointed by Sutherland’s cut-down version of Hamish MacCunn’s glorious Land of the Mountain and the Flood. Rather than the normal nearly ten minutes, this arrangement lasts just under four. This is based on the second subject of the overture required for the theme to Sutherland’s Law, which ran on the BBC from 1973 to 1976.
Robert Docker’s evocative Faery Dance Reel was published in 1958. Apparently, it is not based on any original tune, but is a brilliant pastiche of all that is best in Scottish music.
The liner notes give little information about Iain Sutherland’s Three Scottish Castles Suite. There are three movements. Stirling Castle: Gateway to the Highlands is a big, splashy number complete with piano obligato. There is nothing particularly Caledonian about this. A great big tune, which could be straight out of a 1940s film score, welcomes the listener into the secure fastness of the Highlands. The brass section and the solo violin give a pronounced effect. Much more a product of the country is the misty and wistful evocation of Dunvegan Castle on the beautiful Isle of Skye. It is a perfectly contrived little tone poem, which would bring a tear to the eye of any Scot. One is reminded of the Canadian exile’s boat song: “Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland/And we in dreams behold the Hebrides!” The finale, Edinburgh Castle: Princes Street, majors on the main shopping street in the Capital’s Princes Street. On one side of the road are shops (sadly Jenners is now gone) and on the other, the Gardens give way to an imposing vista of the Castle. Very much like an Eric Coates march, it creates a sense of bustle and hurry, which is perhaps more concerned with retail therapy than history. That said, the trio is martial and sends a patriotic tingle down the spine.
If Elgar had composed Alexander Mackenzie’s Benedictus, it would have been a pot-boiler with many recordings and a secure place in the concert hall and radio station schedules. The main tune is delivered by the first and second violins; the other instruments are used with subtlety and effect. This beguiling theme makes this work deeply moving and memorable: its effect is heart-breaking. It was originally the third movement of the 1888 Six Pieces for violin and piano, called Benedicite (Bless You). Mackenzie arranged it for small orchestra in the same year.
Granville Bantock was born in London. He did have Scottish connections: his father, George, was an eminent Scottish surgeon and gynaecologist. Granville had many passions, including Orientalism, Classical mythology and, of course, Scotland: witness his Celtic and Hebridean Symphonies. Bantock was friendly with the folklorist and song collector Marjory Kennedy-Fraser. He collaborated with her on his major opera, The Seal Woman, as well as several choral settings. He mined Kennedy-Fraser’s publications for melodies. Vincent Budd in The Hebridean Connection wrote that the song “Kishmul's Galley…[was] gathered from the singing of Mary Macdonald, [and] is a rendering of the waulking song attributed to Nic Iain Fhinn of Mingulay and refers to the MacNeil of Barra's galley.” Scottish women sang waulking songs as they treated rough cloth. Bantock’s arrangement of this tune features impressive orchestration. Kishmul’s Galley is the second of Two Heroic Ballads.
Ever since first hearing Malcom Arnold’s Scottish Dances (1957), I have felt that this Northamptonshire composer has outdone many of his Caledonian colleagues in evoking much that is typically considered Scottish. The suite begins with a bright Strathspey with a coarse swagger. There follows a tipsy Reel. The highlight is the beautiful Song of the Hebrides that creates a musical portrayal of a landscape and mood that no Scot can forget. All the stops are pulled out for the rumbustious Highland Fling, the consummation of a ceilidh in Glasgow or Glenfinnan. Sutherland gives a superb account of this delightful set of Dances.
I am not sure about Iain Sutherland’s reworking of The Corries’ song Flower of Scotland. This arrangement of Scotland’s de facto national anthem was made for the opening of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in 1990. It gets an over-the-top makeover for large orchestra and choir. I find it quite insipid, compared to the original.
I have never liked Amazing Grace, whether in the Church of Scotland Hymnal, the Royal Scots Dragon Guards and their bagpipes, Aretha Franklin or Rod Stewart – but this sentimental arrangement by Iain Sutherland functions well here and was clearly popular with the audience.
The compilation ends with two extracts from Ian Whyte’s ballet score Donald of the Burthens, premiered at Sadler’s Wells in December 1951. Despite the superlative music, it has not stood the test of time. The score does not seem to have percolated into Scottish orchestras’ repertoire. The remarkable conclusion to this extract is in the final Reel o’ Tulloch when the full orchestra is suddenly interrupted by the Devil [appearing] playing the bagpipes in a most frenetic manner. It is a rare example of a perfect fusion of Scottish folk music and classical finesse. The entire score is due for a revival (and let us not forget Ian Whyte’s two Symphonies and Violin Concerto).
Robert Matthew-Walker’s liner notes are readable, entertaining and typically informative. The dates of nearly all these pieces – arrangements and originals – have been omitted. This is an essential part of any classical disc’s packaging. My review gives them where possible. Interestingly, each work in the booklet’s track listing is prefaced by a line or two of poetry or prose. Often, it sums up the work’s ethos in a few words. The cover features Kilchurn Castle, Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute.
In the round, this is a splendid evocation of the Scottish character, landscape and art: a cornucopia of great music that evokes the Highlands and the Lowlands. Superbly performed, well recorded and appropriately annotated, it makes a great programme.
John France
Previous review: Göran Forsling
Contents
Traditional, arranged by Iain SUTHERLAND (b. 1936)
The Black Bear Salute [3:43]
Robert DOCKER (1918-1992)
Abbey Craig [2:47]
Ernest TOMLINSON (1924-2015)
Cumberland Square (1960) [3:07]
Eric COATES (1886-1957)
Springtime in Angus (1944) [7:44]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Symphony No.3 “Scottish” – Scherzo (1842) [4:30]
Arthur BLAKE (1925-1994)
Take the High Road Theme (1980) [2:51]
Hamish MACCUNN (1868-1916), arranged by Iain SUTHERLAND
Land of the Mountain and the Flood (Sutherland’s Law Theme) (1886) [3:40]
Robert DOCKER
Faery Dance Reel (1958) [2:33]
Iain SUTHERLAND
Three Scottish Castles [11:58]
Alexander MACKENZIE (1847-1935)
Benedictus (1888) [7:10]
Granville BANTOCK (1868-1946)
Kishmul’s Galley (1944) [4:22]
Malcom ARNOLD (1921-2006)
Four Scottish Dances (1957) [9:22]
Roy WILLIAMSON (1936-1990), arranged by Iain SUTHERLAND
Flower of Scotland (1967/1990?) [5:22]
Traditional, arranged by Iain SUTHERLAND
Amazing Grace [3:12]
Ian WHYTE (1901-1960)
Devil’s Finale & Reel o’ Tulloch from Donald of the Burthens (1951) [6:23]
