Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, 12 January 2005

A QUALIFIED HURRAH for piper Fred Morrison and the massed army of collaborators that helped realise his long-nurtured ambition to perform this large-scale rhapsody. The piper has been developing the idea behind ‘Paracas’ for several years, and Celtic Connections provided an opening-night platform for the massively ambitious project.

The qualification in question is not a new one. Traditional music and orchestras rarely mix to maximum advantage (Shaun Davey’s ‘The Brendan Voyage’ is a rare exception, and the influence – but not always the impact – of the  Irish composer’s idioms were often evident in Mark Sheridan’s orchestrations of Morrison’s attractive themes).

The presence of the orchestra yet again seemed to inhibit the traditional musicians, however, and it was only when they large traditional ensemble cut loose on their own in the penultimate section of the piece that the music really took on the fire and creative energy we associate with Morrison’s own work. There had been flashes of it within the orchestral settings, but not really a sustained fulfilment of the promise.

Not quite a full scale triumph, then, although it was well enough received in the end, and marks a considerable achievement in getting it to the stage at all. This was the first time that Morrison has had an opportunity to work with large forces, and he took full advantage in assembling the cast.

He was joined by Findlay MacDonald, Simon McKerrell and Rory Campbell in the core group of pipe and whistle players at the heart of the music. They were augmented by several fiddlers (including Alasdair Fraser and Fred’s wife, Deirdre Morrison), a cello, two harps, five percussionists, and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera.

That was just the instrumentalists. Fred also added Gaelic singer Alasdair Codona, the Chorus of Scottish Opera in the unaccustomed role of a Gaelic choir, and two narrators (Aonghas Macneacail read his poems in Gaelic, while Iain Anderson rendered English versions over the top of them – not sure if the drowning out of the Gaelic narration was making a cultural point or just moving things along).

The piece was composed in seven sections tracing a “cyclical journey” from the ancient well-springs of Gaelic music through to the current revival of that music, by way of The Clearances and emigration to the New World. Padraig Mor MacCrimmon’s ‘Lament for the Children’ was the only theme used that was not written by Morrison, and provided a startling end to the first half in Alasdair Codona’s stark keening, an ancient sound that could have come from the Middle East as easily as the Hebrides.

Mark Sheridan’s orchestrations of Morrison’s attractive themes were competent enough, as were the Carl Orff-like choral passages, but offered little we have not heard before. Some of the material was stretched beyond its inherent interest, as in the long but rather static orchestral treatment of Morrison’s plaintive theme in ‘The New World’ section, which went nowhere and took a long time to do so.

Against that, there were many passages and contributions to savour, not least from Morrison himself, and the rousing finale brought the piece to a powerful conclusion. They reprised the last segment of it by way of an encore.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2005

Related Links:

• Celtic Connections website