Alastair Savage
Alone With History
Woodland
AT the start of this month, one of the many world premieres in the BBC SSO's Tectonics weekend in the Old Fruitmarket and City Halls was Alvin Curran's startling promenade Musique Sans Frontieres, which followed the composer dragging a chair across cobbles with first violin Alastair Savage's plaintive solo folk fiddle. You can probably simulate the chair dragging at home, but you need to buy this disc for the latter. As solo as the title suggests, it follows three fine albums by Savage's trio, and excellent though his sidemen Euan Drysdale and Iain Crawford are, I know I'll return to, and recommend, this collection more often. Recorded live in Crathie Kirk, partly in concert and then at a later date without an audience (which means there is a nice level of enthusiastic appreciation, but not too much), it covers the music of James Scott Skinner Skinner, Niel Gow and his sons Nathaniel and Andrew, arrangements of two melodies made famous by the most famous lyrics of Robert Burns, all bracketed by two sets of three tunes by Savage himself that respond to his immersion in this rich heritage. The album is a must for aficionados, a primer for anyone with a notional interest in Scottish traditional music, and, I hope, a sure-fire till-check-out seller at every tourist trap in the country.
Keith Bruce
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