This is a wonderful strathspey and I wonder why it has never been posted here before - which makes me worried that maybe it has. As I mentioned before, I learned this for my migration project (about which I shall shut up after today - the event is tomorrow - see Celtic forum for details). I think this is a magnificent piece of music, but I fear that the mandolin isn't quite up to it, at least not as played by me. I sort of fancied that my mandolin-guitar combo would sound a bit like Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, fiddle and cello, but alas not. But I still had to do it The migration project was triggered when I learned Farewell to Ireland a few months ago. Of course, that tune is a progeny of this one. As is the old-time tune, Highlander's Farewell. Fraser and Haas make this connection, but curiously enough, despite the track listing at the link I posted above, they don't actually play Farewell to Ireland at all. Anyway, here is my video of Highlander's Farewell to Ireland, along with links to Farewell to Ireland (which I don't really do the normal way) and Highlander's Farewell on SoundCloud.
The mandolin-guitar combo may not sound like a cello and a violin, but it has a very beautiful sound of its own. Thanks for the nice recording on the video, Richard!
A fine delivery on well-chosen instruments, Richard. Just had an initial foray into your video on the Emigrants and their music and it is looking and sounding really enthralling!
Love the ripple effect with the banjo on the third vid, Richard, gives a sense of movement and transition. Very nice.
Richard, I do agree with Christian on your mandolin-guitar-combo.
Thank you, all. Well, Christian, we share an attachment to the mando-guitar combo and I do think it's lovely. I wasn't trying to be faux modest, I just felt there was something about the piece that I couldn't quite capture. Farewell to Ireland works better, I think, because I give the guitar something distinct to do in the baseline (repeating the motif from the first bar of the melody throughout). Someone over at The Session says that that represents the horn announcing the ship's departure, which is clearly untrue since it is borrowed from the original Scottish tune that dates from before steamships, but it's a nice idea. John, enjoy the video. I replied to you at greater length on the other forum. Simon, that was my first go at finger-picking the tenor banjo - I needed something to make it sound distinct. I may redo this at some point. I was having a go at Clinch Mountain Backstep with all the slides and double stops and I think that could work with this one too - create a bit more Appalachian atmosphere. I found this one oddly difficult - not technically, but just to get what the tune was trying to do. I think it was that element of syncopation, which is so different from the Irish and Scottish versions.
Richard, I have responded likewise at greater length on the other forum. I recommend Richard's video as a very enjoyable way to spend an hour - or to take it in sections, and the music is all available separately on his Soundcloud page.
-I liked it like that. Sounds really authentic, like a memory.
Thanks, Simon. I'm really tempted by the idea of a five-string banjo...
