Mr McFall’s Chamber highlight an integral part of Scottish culture, proving there’s far more to folk music than twee tunes and the Braveheart soundtrack.
The ‘Four Corners’ concert is a showcase of the work of four Scottish composers, each originating from different areas of Scotland and specialising in specific instruments: harp, piano, fiddle and pipes. The four composer-performers are joined onstage by Mr McFall’s Chamber, a five-piece string ensemble. The first half consists of previously performed pieces, such as Corrina Hewat’s ‘Making The Connection’ with its extended harp introduction and James Ross’s mournful ‘Lament’.
The second half presents the real highlight: four newly composed pieces collectively entitled ‘Four Corners’. Each piece evokes some aspect of the composers’ homes, with unity stemming from the use of the same traditional folk tune: ‘The Widow’s Lament’. Fraser Fifield’s ‘Playground Tales’ heavily features his own bagpipe-playing which, in this ensemble context, is far less intrusive than the average street performer. His whistle playing, meanwhile, provides soaring emotive power.
The pieces are wonderfully evocative, from the recurring chord swells in Hewat’s ‘The Black Isle’ representing breathing, to the pizzicato rain in Ross’s ‘Flow Country’ and the ships horns in Aidan O’Rourke’s ‘Horns in the Little Bay’ that precede an eruption of toe-tapping, jaunty tunes. In O’Rourke’s pieces especially, traditional folk is given a modern twist with repeated patterns of rhythmic ostinatos and percussive string playing.
These four composers are at the forefront of contemporary Scottish folk music and their pieces are performed with panache. Four Corners really is a celebration of all things Scottish.
