The 2016 - 2017 Recital Programme |
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24 February 2017 - Decker Forrest
Piping Instructor, Sabhal Mor Ostaig, Skye
Winner, Ceol Mor, Royal National Mod 2016
Winner, Ceol Mor, Royal National Mod 2016
18 March 2017 Finlay Johnston
Gold medallist and 2016 Clasp winner
Friends of The Lewis & Harris Piping Society as a fund-raiser for the Donald MacLeod Memorial competition held annually in Stornoway.
More details from Donald Smith (Tel: 01463-230439)
Friends of The Lewis & Harris Piping Society as a fund-raiser for the Donald MacLeod Memorial competition held annually in Stornoway.
More details from Donald Smith (Tel: 01463-230439)
Friday 26 May 2017 - Chris Armstrong
Chris Armstrong Recital
The final recital of this season’s Inverness Piping Society’s Winter Recital Series was on the most summer-like of evenings. On Friday evening Chris Armstrong played the final recital of this season’s Winter Series at Tulloch Castle. If you missed it, you missed a rare chance to hear a top player who has been busy being Pipe Major of Scottish Power and therefore hasn’t been on the boards or giving recitals of late.
We call them the Winter Recital Series. On Friday the 26th of May, it was indeed a recital (a fabulous one) and it was, to be sure, part of a series but, as anyone present could tell you – especially Chris, it was most definitely NOT winter.
On a day when I saw the mercury hit 27° (That’s 80° in old money) the expression on Chris’ face and in his playing seemed to say “Heat? What heat?”. 55 very appreciative audience members certainly didn’t do anything to cool the hall in Tulloch Castle either. Still the heat didn’t seem to have the slightest effect on Chris’ pipe which was his own design with his own drone reeds. The sound was voluminous, rich and absolutely steady. Some sitting further back in the audience were trying to guess if they were Hendersons or Lawries.
Chris began his recital with a pair of 6/8 Marches: “Jim Ritchie’s March” and “Kenneth J MacLeod”. He followed these with a Hornpipe and two jigs: “The Piper’s Controversy”, the excellent Donald MacLeod tune “Donald MacLennan’s Tuning Phrase” and followed that with “Turf Lodge” by PM Angus MacDonald.
The pair of 2/4s that Chris then played; the “93rd Highlanders’ Farewell to Edinburgh” and (one of my favourites) "The Glenfinnan Highland Gathering”, really showed off Chris’ mastery of the idiom. His expression was fabulous, I felt, because of the control of his lift. He seemed to play the offbeat notes on the back edge of the offbeat yet the first half of the beat was never too long. Wish I could do that.
Well, if you’re going to play two competition marches you’re going to have to follow them with two strathspeys and two reels, aren’t you?. This he did with “John MacDougall Gillies” by Willie Gray, The Islay Ball” by Donald MacPhee, Peter MacLeod’s “Arnish Light”, and (another one of my favourites) Alick C MacGregor by GS MacLennan. That’s a tune that can serve young junior players well but also be taken right up to the stage of the Eden Court.
Speaking of young junior players, when Chris was a boy of ten, a wee boy of ten, emphasis on wee, and competing in the solos he submitted the above mentioned “Glenfinnan Highland Gathering” at the eponymous games. That’s always fun and certainly culturally appropriate but it takes one heck of a lot of guts to play it for the rather large and imposing figure of big Ronnie Lawrie -- the composer of the tune. Must have been one of those Oliver Twist moments.
Chris followed the strathspeys and reels with a lovely slow air “Leaving Lewis” and two jigs: “The Boys of the Town” and “The Shepherd’s Crook”. You read that right. The Shepherd’s Crook. Jig. Chris’ setting. And it works too.
He finished off the first half with a beautiful rendition of Donald MacLeod’s melodious piobaireachd: Queen Elizabeth the 2nd’s Salute. One usually has to go to The Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition to hear that one so it was a real treat to hear it hear.
Time of a cuppa and a raffle. No, I didn’t win the whisky.
Chris began the second half with, remarkably, a dry shirt, (identical spare in the pipe case perhaps?) and two 9/8 marches: “John Campbell” and “The Haugh” These he followed with the slow air “Leaving Port Jude” and the jigs “Butter Fingers”, The Handshaker”, and his own composition “Divebombing Seagulls”. That, he said, is the polite title. Anyone who has spent any time in Inverness doesn’t need to stretch his or her imagination too far to figure out what the original title might be.
Two more 2/4 s followed: “The Crags of Stirling” and “Bonnie Ann” and then, a rare treat, a second piobaireachd: “Lord Lovat’s Lament”. Played just as exquisitely as his first piobaireachd.
Picking up the pace Chris followed with a hornpipe and two jigs: "7/11", “The Deerstalker’s Jig” and “The Northern Meeting Ceilidh”, another Donald Mac Leod tune..
He finished the evening with a string of Strathspeys and Reels: “Munlochy Bridge”, played twice, down in G first then in A, “Stirling Castle”, “The Smith’s a Gallant Fireman”, “The Troll on the Bar” I'd love to know the story behind that one, and “Picnic in the Sky” by Matthew Watson.
Our recitalists this year have all gone out of their way to structure very interesting playlists and Chris kept the bar high. Not only was there a wide variety of classic, early modern and very modern tunes, the audience was treated to a wide range of composers and styles: Donald MacLeod, Ronnie Lawrie, GS MacLennan, Willie Gray, John MacDonald of S. Uist (Seonaidh Roidein), Angus MacDonald, Matthew Watson, and, of course, Chris Armstrong himself.
Another great aspect of these recitals, besides the superb music from world class players, is getting the craic with friends you may not see on a regular basis. With Rona Lightfoot, Andy Venters, and almost the entire MacGillivray clan among the many other friends in attendance, one is pressed for time. Long after the echoes in the dining hall have faded and the recitalist has headed back doon the road tae Glesga, it’s good to mill about outside the castle with friends when it’s half past late, the gloaming is taking its time, and the sky is still a light blue (definitely NOT winter). I shared a ride with a friend and as we headed down the hill, it was still 19° and the strains of the evening were still in our ears.
Be sure to join us in November when the Winter Recital Series kicks off on the 25th with Fred Morrison
The final recital of this season’s Inverness Piping Society’s Winter Recital Series was on the most summer-like of evenings. On Friday evening Chris Armstrong played the final recital of this season’s Winter Series at Tulloch Castle. If you missed it, you missed a rare chance to hear a top player who has been busy being Pipe Major of Scottish Power and therefore hasn’t been on the boards or giving recitals of late.
We call them the Winter Recital Series. On Friday the 26th of May, it was indeed a recital (a fabulous one) and it was, to be sure, part of a series but, as anyone present could tell you – especially Chris, it was most definitely NOT winter.
On a day when I saw the mercury hit 27° (That’s 80° in old money) the expression on Chris’ face and in his playing seemed to say “Heat? What heat?”. 55 very appreciative audience members certainly didn’t do anything to cool the hall in Tulloch Castle either. Still the heat didn’t seem to have the slightest effect on Chris’ pipe which was his own design with his own drone reeds. The sound was voluminous, rich and absolutely steady. Some sitting further back in the audience were trying to guess if they were Hendersons or Lawries.
Chris began his recital with a pair of 6/8 Marches: “Jim Ritchie’s March” and “Kenneth J MacLeod”. He followed these with a Hornpipe and two jigs: “The Piper’s Controversy”, the excellent Donald MacLeod tune “Donald MacLennan’s Tuning Phrase” and followed that with “Turf Lodge” by PM Angus MacDonald.
The pair of 2/4s that Chris then played; the “93rd Highlanders’ Farewell to Edinburgh” and (one of my favourites) "The Glenfinnan Highland Gathering”, really showed off Chris’ mastery of the idiom. His expression was fabulous, I felt, because of the control of his lift. He seemed to play the offbeat notes on the back edge of the offbeat yet the first half of the beat was never too long. Wish I could do that.
Well, if you’re going to play two competition marches you’re going to have to follow them with two strathspeys and two reels, aren’t you?. This he did with “John MacDougall Gillies” by Willie Gray, The Islay Ball” by Donald MacPhee, Peter MacLeod’s “Arnish Light”, and (another one of my favourites) Alick C MacGregor by GS MacLennan. That’s a tune that can serve young junior players well but also be taken right up to the stage of the Eden Court.
Speaking of young junior players, when Chris was a boy of ten, a wee boy of ten, emphasis on wee, and competing in the solos he submitted the above mentioned “Glenfinnan Highland Gathering” at the eponymous games. That’s always fun and certainly culturally appropriate but it takes one heck of a lot of guts to play it for the rather large and imposing figure of big Ronnie Lawrie -- the composer of the tune. Must have been one of those Oliver Twist moments.
Chris followed the strathspeys and reels with a lovely slow air “Leaving Lewis” and two jigs: “The Boys of the Town” and “The Shepherd’s Crook”. You read that right. The Shepherd’s Crook. Jig. Chris’ setting. And it works too.
He finished off the first half with a beautiful rendition of Donald MacLeod’s melodious piobaireachd: Queen Elizabeth the 2nd’s Salute. One usually has to go to The Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition to hear that one so it was a real treat to hear it hear.
Time of a cuppa and a raffle. No, I didn’t win the whisky.
Chris began the second half with, remarkably, a dry shirt, (identical spare in the pipe case perhaps?) and two 9/8 marches: “John Campbell” and “The Haugh” These he followed with the slow air “Leaving Port Jude” and the jigs “Butter Fingers”, The Handshaker”, and his own composition “Divebombing Seagulls”. That, he said, is the polite title. Anyone who has spent any time in Inverness doesn’t need to stretch his or her imagination too far to figure out what the original title might be.
Two more 2/4 s followed: “The Crags of Stirling” and “Bonnie Ann” and then, a rare treat, a second piobaireachd: “Lord Lovat’s Lament”. Played just as exquisitely as his first piobaireachd.
Picking up the pace Chris followed with a hornpipe and two jigs: "7/11", “The Deerstalker’s Jig” and “The Northern Meeting Ceilidh”, another Donald Mac Leod tune..
He finished the evening with a string of Strathspeys and Reels: “Munlochy Bridge”, played twice, down in G first then in A, “Stirling Castle”, “The Smith’s a Gallant Fireman”, “The Troll on the Bar” I'd love to know the story behind that one, and “Picnic in the Sky” by Matthew Watson.
Our recitalists this year have all gone out of their way to structure very interesting playlists and Chris kept the bar high. Not only was there a wide variety of classic, early modern and very modern tunes, the audience was treated to a wide range of composers and styles: Donald MacLeod, Ronnie Lawrie, GS MacLennan, Willie Gray, John MacDonald of S. Uist (Seonaidh Roidein), Angus MacDonald, Matthew Watson, and, of course, Chris Armstrong himself.
Another great aspect of these recitals, besides the superb music from world class players, is getting the craic with friends you may not see on a regular basis. With Rona Lightfoot, Andy Venters, and almost the entire MacGillivray clan among the many other friends in attendance, one is pressed for time. Long after the echoes in the dining hall have faded and the recitalist has headed back doon the road tae Glesga, it’s good to mill about outside the castle with friends when it’s half past late, the gloaming is taking its time, and the sky is still a light blue (definitely NOT winter). I shared a ride with a friend and as we headed down the hill, it was still 19° and the strains of the evening were still in our ears.
Be sure to join us in November when the Winter Recital Series kicks off on the 25th with Fred Morrison