Category Archives: Robert Burns

Day 78: Kellyburn Braes ROCKS!

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HaydnCD78Today’s CD of Scottish Songs for William Napier (V of, hopefully, V) got off to a rousing start with tenor Jamie MacDougall belting out a bold and lively version of “My goddess woman” (Track 1). It’s a brash ode to a lass the protagonist deems, well, a goddess.

Track 2 (“Bid me not forget”) is given to soprano Lorna Anderson. And it’s not among my favorites.

Track 3 (“Ae fond kiss”) is another MacDougall song. Not a catchy melody. Music forgettable.

Track 4 (“Kelly-burn braes”) is a Huh? song. The melody is familiar. I’ve heard this before. But the lyrics…what do they mean? For that answer, I once again turn to the wonderful web site The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive created and maintained by Emily Ezust.

Here are the lyrics to this fetching, instantly FAVORITE, song: Continue reading →

Day 71: Auld Lange Syne?

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HaydnCD71Today’s CD is slightly different. It’s called Scottish Songs For William Whyte.

Now, to be fair, I don’t know who William Whyte is. (Or why he spells his name like that.)

I also didn’t know the song “Auld Lange Syne” was a Scottish song. Apparently, it is. Because it is the first track on the first collection of Scottish Songs for the aforementioned Mr. Whyte.

If you don’t know what “Auld Lange Syne” means, here’s its entry on Wikipedia. It’s from a poem by Robert Burns. All this time I didn’t know that.

Here’s something else I didn’t know: Robert Burns died quite young (age 37). Given his tremendous influence in the literary world, I thought he lived to be an old man. Thirty seven? Here’s what the Wiki article says:

Burns’s worldly prospects were perhaps better than they had ever been; but he had become soured, and moreover he had alienated many of his best friends by too freely expressing sympathy with the French Revolution and the then unpopular advocates of reform at home. His political views also came to the notice of his employers and in an attempt to prove his loyalty to the Crown, Burns joined the Royal Dumfries Volunteers in March 1795. As his health began to give way, he began to age prematurely and fell into fits of despondency. The habits of intemperance (alleged mainly by temperance activist James Currie) are said to have aggravated his long-standing possible rheumatic heart condition. His death followed a dental extraction in winter 1795.

On the morning of 21 July 1796 Burns died in Dumfries, at the age of 37.

This type of discovery isn’t essential to my life. But it is Continue reading →

Day 67: Thank You, “Wolfgang”

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HaydnCD67I’m embarrassed. And somewhat pissed.

Last night, I forgot to rip more CDs from my Haydn Collection into iTunes.

In other words, yesterday’s CD was the last one from my wonderful box set by Brilliant Classics that I had on my laptop. I usually rip 8-10 at a crack just so I have a healthy reserve.

Wow. Time flies.

Fear not. YouTube to the rescue.

Thanks to a cat named Wolfgang Amadé Mozart who posts Haydn music to YouTube, I’m able to listen to today’s CD ,anyway.

Thank you, Wolfgang!

Here’s what I’m hearing today:

Track 1 (“Jenny dang the weaver”) is the perfect way to start, especially after the Aural interruptus I experienced this morning after sitting down with my cup of Light Roast. “Jenny dang the weaver” plays from 00:00 to 02:15 and it’s a delightfully jaunty tune, shared by soprano Lorna Anderson and tenor Jamie MacDougall. The title, alone, made me laugh. Not quite out loud. But it was a good sturdy internal chuckle.

Here are the lyrics to and a bit of information about this improbable tune, once again from Continue reading →

Day 66: A Wee Thing

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HaydnCD66 Once again, the compositions on today’s Scottish Songs for George Thomson seem more palatable to me than what I heard the day before.

But I couldn’t tell you why.

It’s the same singers:

Lorna Anderson and tenor Jamie MacDougall, both of whom actually are Scottish. They have fine voices.

It’s the same musicians:

Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, which consists of:

Harald Kosik piano
Verena Stourzh violin
Hannes Gradwohl cello

As with the previous CDs of Scottish Songs for George Thomson, this one was recorded where it was likely first performed, or even composed: Haydn Hall, Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt.

Speaking of which, Continue reading →

Day 65: “I wish my Love were in a Myre”?

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HaydnCD65 If there’s one thing I’ve learned from listening to Scottish Songs for George Thomson it’s that the song titles are often quite intriguing, even amusing.

Track 20 (“I wish my Love were in a Myre”), for example. The hell does that mean?

I Googled the title and found the lyrics to this very old song on a site called The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive that appears to be a labor of love for a woman named Emily Ezust. The lyrics:

Again rejoicing Nature sees
Her robe assume its vernal hues,
Her leafy locks wave in the breeze
All freshly steep’d in morning dews.
In vain to me the cowslips blaw,
In vain to me the vi’lets spring,
In vain to me in glen or shaw,
The mavis and the lintwhite sing.

The merry ploughboy cheers his team,
Wi’ joy the tentie seedsman stalks;
But life to me’s a weary dream,
A dream of ane that never wauks.
The sheep-herd steeks his faulding slap,
And o’er the moorlands whistles shill,
Wi’ wild, unequal, wand’ring step
I meet him on the dewy hill.

And when the lark ‘tween light and dark,
Blythe waukens by the daisy’s side,
And mounts and sings on flitt’ring wings,
A wae-worn ghaist I hameward glide.
Come, Winter, with thine angry howl,
And raging bend the naked tree;
Thy gloom will soothe my cheerless soul,
When Nature all is sad like me. Continue reading →

Day 64: Aye, More Scottish Songs For Bonnie Lasses and Lads

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HaydnCD64I spoke too soon yesterday.

Today’s CD sounds as lugubrious as the first one I didn’t care for a few days ago.

I believe it’s the tempo that does me in.

These songs seem more melancholy than yesterday’s. So their tempo is slower.

Therefore, the tunes sound more like church hymns than rousing Scottish songs about wee lads and naughty lasses and tankards of ale and moors and whatever else the Scots sing about that I love so much.

Or, maybe not church hymns. Maybe less about the aforementioned wee lads and bonnie lasses and more about lost loves and faraway lands. I can dig such songs as well as the next Scotsman. But not entire CDs of them. (By the way, that’s why I think the first Hobbit movie was such a dud. If people had to hear one more interminable, droning song about misty mountains and dungeons and gold they would have jammed soda straws in their ears. A little goes a long way.)

Today’s selection of songs again features soprano Lorna Anderson and tenor Jamie MacDougall, both of whom actually are Scottish. They have fine voices.

The music is terrific, provided by the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, which consists of:

Harald Kosik piano
Verena Stourzh violin
Hannes Gradwohl cello

As with the previous CDs of Scottish Songs for George Thomson, this one was recorded where it was likely first performed, or even composed: Haydn Hall, Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt.

I couldn’t find a post of this CD on YouTube. So you’ll just have to imagine it. Or buy it and listen to it yourself. It’s not bad music. In fact, it’s quite nicely done. It’s just not my cup of tea.

Or tankard of ale.

Day 63: Still More Scottish Songs

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HaydnCD63Another terrific selection of Scottish songs featuring soprano Lorna Anderson and tenor Jamie MacDougall, both of whom actually are Scottish.

The music is terrific, too, provided by the Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, which consists of:

Harald Kosik piano
Verena Stourzh violin
Hannes Gradwohl cello

As with the previous CDs of Scottish songs, this one was recorded where it was likely first performed, or even composed: Haydn Hall, Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt.

This morning when I went to Google something to do with these Scottish songs, I discovered this:

GoogleCallasIt’s Google’s tribute to the late soprano Maria Callas.

Classical music is cool.

Day 62: More Scottish Songs

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HaydnCD62The underpinning of Buddhism is a word called dukkha, which is a Pali word often translated as suffering, anxiety, dissatisfaction, un-ease. It is found in the Four Noble Truths – in fact, it is the first of the Four.

The second of the Four Noble Truths tells us where dukkha comes from — ourselves. We crave. Or, another way to describe it is we grasp. Essentially, we want things to be different from how they are.

That has to be the reason why I think differently about today’s Haydn CD from how I did about yesterday’s.

It’s, essentially, the same music. The same performers. The same musicians.

Yet, today, I like it. I don’t mind the near-contralto range of soprano Lorna Anderson, or the lower-range of tenor Jamie MacDougall. For some reason, I actually like today’s selection of songs.

Obviously, there are two possible explanations: (1) The song selections are different, and/or (2) I am different.

Frankly, I think it’s the latter. Maybe I just needed a little time to get used to what I was hearing.

Track 9 (“Hey tutti taiti”), for example. A really fun little ditty.

And Track 16 (“The wish”).

What I’ve noticed about today’s CD is: Continue reading →

Day 61: Scottish Songs? George Thomson?

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HaydnCD61Today’s CD looked like an incredibly interesting diversion from the previous compositions. And it is. Just not the way I was hoping.

I love songs from the U.K. Give me Ireland, Scotland (even England) any day. There’s something about the sound and feel of music from that spot on the globe that does it for me.

But, today’s music isn’t exactly giving me goosebumps.

For one thing, the tempo is too slow for a Scottish song – at least, my favorite Scottish songs. (Come to think of it, I don’t believe I could name any Scottish songs. I’m thinking of Irish songs full of tin whistles and “Laddies” and “Lasses” and Danny Boys.)

The song titles on this CD certainly have the right feel to them. Track 4, for example, is called “The wee, wee man.”

I’m glad I’m not a wee, wee man. (But I’ve had a lot of coffee this morning. So I may be soon.)

Here’s what I find off-putting about this music: The vocalists .

They are listed as Lorna Anderson, soprano, and Jamie MacDougall, tenor. (MacDougall sounds like the right guy for the job.) However, Ms. Anderson sounds more like a contralto to me. Her soprano range is definitely lower register. And Mr. MacDougall’s tenor range sounds more like baritone to me. So the two of them together are not endearing me to what I thought would be a toe-tapping round of Gaelic drinking songs.

Here. Listen for yourself. This is the exact same performance to which I’m listening this morning.

To be sure, laddie, “Rattling roaring Willy” (Track 6) is making me yearn for a pint or two. But, overall, this music sounds less festive and more pensive than is my preferred style. Continue reading →