Tell me who gave us the Book of Doves
Columba, Columba, Columba
Tell me who gave us the Book of Doves
Columba, Columba, Columba
What was the breadth of it?
A furlong or four
What was the depth of it?
A fathom or five
What was the heft of it?
The heft of the darkness behind every star
And where did he find it, this Book of Doves?
All in the Candida Casa
And where did he find it, the Book of Doves?
All in the Candida Casa
Made of the vellum and bound in the wolfskin,
Encrusted with amethyst and topaz and beryl
By numberless scribes in the cells of Saint Cyril
(Enscribed on the spine with the Sign of the Fisherman)
Written in Basque and Etruscan and Lydian
Left here by Gideon
Brought from the Bosphorus
Died on the Cross for us
Stolen by Mammon and enshrined in the canon
Forever abandoned in the Plains of Slamannan
“Guilders and florins” say the bells of Saint Lawrence
“Perseids in August” stream the tears of Saint Lawrence
Derry is down, Stirling’s away
Sicily’s legion on the banks of the Tay
Anglesey’s gone with the Angels of Mons
Foula and Kilda will die ere they’re born
(Alasdair Roberts) Copyright Control
In 2009 Jonathan Mills, director of the Edinburgh International Festival, offered us four nights at the festival’s own venue next to the Castle, to do pretty much what we wanted. This is not the kind of invitation you can pass up, so we rounded up some musical friends, and in a series of late-night concerts presented a collection of music from Scotland through the centuries. It was a great opportunity to draw on our repertoire of the previous 17 years, and to invite a few special guests to add some new discoveries along the way.
This album presents a selection of favourite moments from those four nights at the Hub, showing just some of the fun that we had onstage. If you listen very carefully, you can also hear the creaky rostrum, the gun going off in the Tattoo at the Castle next door, and sometimes the battle between our tuning and the air conditioning system. On some so-called live albums, the music is assembled from patching sessions that take place after the audience has gone or even before they arrive, but everything you hear on this recording happened on stage in the shows. It’s guaranteed live, and all the better for it!
credits
released June 27, 2010
- Concerto Caledonia -
David McGuinness – harpsichord, fortepiano (2, 12), reed organ (2), melodica (13)
David Greenberg – violin, octave violin (11)
Chris Norman – flutes, whistle (13)
Alison McGillivray – cello, viol (1, 3, 4, 6)
with
Bill Taylor – wire-strung clàrsach, bray harp (3, 6)
Elizabeth Kenny – theorbo, lute (7)
Steve Player – guitar
Patsy Seddon – clàrsach
Sarah Bevan-Baker – violin
Nicolette Moonen – viola
and guests
Alasdair Roberts – voice, guitar
Michael Marra – singer
Martin Carthy – voice, guitar
Katharine Fuge – soprano
Recorded in The Hub, Castlehill, Edinburgh on 20, 22, 24 & 26 August 2009 by Steve Portnoi
Producer: David McGuinness
Mastering: Paul Baxter
Cover painting: Joe Davie
Design: Ewan MacPherson, Quiet Design
Thanks to Jonathan Mills and Matthew Studdert-Kennedy at the EIF; Noel O’Regan for lending us his harpsichord when the expected one didn’t turn up; Malcolm Greenhalgh and Meg Munck for keyboard tuning; Alison Goring, our Performance Manager at the Hub; Andrew Logan; John Purser; Mark Summers; our Board; all our friends, supporters and families; and to Barnaby Brown, Alan Emslie and James Gilchrist, who appeared in the concerts but through no fault of their own didn’t make it on to the recording.
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