Cellist Alice Allen is on somewhat of a roll these days, her muse becoming ridiculously productive, both as a solo artist and in the many collaborations she is stacking up. Any lover of Scottish traditionally based music will be familiar with her playing, even if unfamiliar with her name, as she has become orchestral maven Seonaid Aitken’s go to girl for cello. She has appeared on myriad recordings over the last year or so, most recently for the Libertines (All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade), to working with other rising stars of the Scottish scene, like Hannah Rarity and Josie Duncan. And then there have been her celebrated ‘Strathspey Queens’ sets, with Patsy Reid and her own orchestral piece, ‘Bass Culture’, performed at this year’s Celtic Connections, and just released as a live recording, in the last month or three.
Savage maybe less well known, he is a classically trained fiddler, with a handful of solo works behind him, each embracing the foundations of Scottish traditional fiddle, bridging a folk/classical divide, actually not so far removed from Allen’s own modus operandi. Where The Good Ship Lands captures both their instrumental skills and their grasp of a shared heritage. Spread over two discs, it mixes tunes doused in history to those of fabled fiddle greats, William Marshall, Niel Gow and James Scott Skinner, together with many written by Savage. In the sleeve notes, Allen says the duo “highly recommend enjoying this record in your favourite seat, with your favourite cuppa or your favourite dram”. Well, I, for one, wouldn’t wish to disappoint her!
Disc one opens with a majestic processional feel, with traditional air ‘O Kenmure’s On And Awa’’, with Allen plucking her strings pizzicato, as Savage leads the stately jig, made famous as the setting for Rabbie Burns’ song about Jacobite, William Gordon. It breaks into a faster lick for ‘Craigellachie Lasses’, from Marshall (1748-1830), with Allen now sawing exuberantly, her rich tones complementing Savage’s chunky fiddle. This is followed by a glorious melody, ‘Coilsfield House’, written by Nataniel, son of Niel, Gow. Gow senior, just a little older than Marshall, the two equally and initially responsible for the prominence of the strathspey as a major and classical Scottish style of melody. A majestic tune, it includes a short section where the players swap the earlier pizzicato and bowing of its predecessor. Should a comparator be sought, the mood of this project thus far is closely akin the Battlefield Band and their ‘Music In Trust’ recordings.
More Marshall, then, for ‘Miss Admiral Gordon’s Strathspey’, paired with the elder Gow’s ‘Dunkeld Heritage’, the first being almost creaky in formality, with the second being positively jaunty, with gloriously percussive cello. Maintaining the sense of perspective, the next paring, of the traditional ‘Low Down in the Broom’ with Gow’s ‘Major Graham Of Inchbrakie’, the extensive notes explaining how each are or have been tunes used for Burns’ famous ‘My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose’. The traditional tune, now the most commonly applied, is more fluid, fitting better than the slight stiffness of the second, if explained by Gow’s preference it be a dance over a song.
Starting with the slow and mournful traditional air, ‘Roslyn Castle’, by Savage alone, followed by Allen likewise, it breaks into ‘O’Carolan’s Welcome’, a journey over to Ireland, which is followed by a pair of livelier Irish reels. Looser than the material offered thus far, it makes for a contrast between the competing aspects of these musics, a party rather than a performance. Savage then takes his place amongst his illustrious forbears, as composer of ‘Lend You My Tears’, which he wrote during lockdown, as a memorial to those lost, and in the style of an American old-time tune. Starting solo, Allen slots in alongside, as they extend that feel for a brace of American classics, ‘Angeline the Baker’ and ‘Black Eyed Susie’. As Savage takes the lead to begin, Allen contriving to sound like an entire orchestra, roles then reversed. By the time they crack into ‘Susie’, it becomes a veritable hoedown.
Still stuck in America, ‘Railroad’ has Savage evoking the original underground rail systems of the U.S., often escape routes for slaves. An atmospheric concoction, each start plucking their respective strings, giving a sense of the rhythmic momentum of rail. Sharing the subsequent progression, it captures no small poignancy of purpose, and is a fitting end to close the first disc.
Disc two is populated far more by Savage compositions, starting with the titular track of the project, about his home town of Ardrossan and the shipbuilding once thriving there. It is a plaintive theme, carried by Savage, before Allen reprises her chugging tone of delivery, together they then exploring what seem and sound almost to be Eastern and Far Eastern themes. From ships to drink, as in strong drink rather than the drink come two more by him, ‘Distillery March’ and ‘Brewery Reel’, each aptly celebratory, each fun.
Ardrossan is the Ayrshire port for the Isle of Arran, it thus unsurprising Savage would be familiar with the island. ‘When the Sun Shines over Brodick’ thus celebrates that less than guaranteed circumstance. A tune he composed actually on the ferry, it conjures up the wonderful feeling of sunshine brings to the Scottish islands. Gauntly beautiful, like the scenery, the two players blend with each other precisely and perfectly.
The music of James Scott Skinner, a lot, follows, the next two tracks containing two and then five of his compositions, respectively. Skinner, 1843 – 1927, usurped both Marshall and Gow, as pre-eminent composer, and devotee, of the strathspey. As a result, there is inevitably some crossover, selection wise, between this album and the Reid/Allen first ‘Strathspey Queens’ set. (As indeed there is with the Marshall’s ‘Miss (Admiral) Gordon’s Strathspey’ on the second.) If you like each of those, you will love this, and comparing how Savage takes a slightly different route than did Patsy Reid, with her viola, and how this affects Allen’s play. And, no, I’m unable to give an opinion as to which, if either, is better.) The highlight, here, is the first two, ‘The Laird o’ Drumblair/Angus Campbell’, which would have you swear there is a piano playing too. (There isn’t.) The second set, whilst still of merit, is as much to celebrate the variety of Skinners’s writing, a set of disparates, with the duo really taking off, appropriately, for the accelerating ‘Spey in Spate’.
A musical journey follows, from the Grampians, across the Minch to Lewis, and then down to West Linton, in Peebles, the end of the old drove road from the Highlands. ‘Lochnagar ‘is a traditional haunting slow air, ‘Crossing The Minch’ a surprisingly foot-forward march, given the usual state of the tide and currents, by Pipe Major Donald MacLeod, and ‘The High Road to Linton’ a sturdy swagger. Which leaves only a final Savage selection to close proceedings, ‘Capital Nights’. This is around his preferred way to close the yearly Edinburgh Festival, with a dram in Ryrie’s bar, in Haymarket, reflecting on the preceding hurly burly. A reflective piece, he and Allen dance delicately, balancing the melody with intended outcome. It closes with Allen treating her cello almost more as a guitar, or, I guess, a fretless bass, Savage twanging at the higher register. Delightful.
I guess Where The Good Ship Lands is quite a purist release, but, for anyone curious as to the possibilities inherent in bringing both Scottish chamber music together with more contemporary themes, this is a solid primer in both.
Seuras Og
Artists’ websites: www.alastairsavage.co.uk , www.aliceallencello.com
‘When The Sun Shines Over Brodick’:
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