In March 2019 we recorded a set of videos with soprano Lorna Anderson in Dalkeith Palace, to accompany the exhibition 'Songs of Home' at the Museum of Sydney (August-November 2019), curated by Matthew Stephens, and produced by Jeanice Brooks. Our repertoire was drawn from music played in the homes of the Gordon and Buccleuch families, and many of these pieces were transported to Australia in the manuscript music books of the artist Georgiana McCrae, who grew up at Gordon Castle and emigrated to Australia in 1840. Some of the tunes would have been played by Nathaniel Gow in the room where we recorded, and heard there by their dedicatees for the first time.
released March 30, 2020
Songs of Home and Distant Isles
music from Scotland in the early Australian colonies
Concerto Caledonia, directed by David McGuinness
Lorna Anderson, soprano
Aaron McGregor, violin
Gabi Maas, violin, viola
Dorian Komanoff Bandy, violin (track 11)
Alice Allen, cello
Jean Kelly, harp
David McGuinness, piano
Harp by Sébastien Erard, 1815
Square piano by Thomas Preston, c. 1820
Recorded in the gallery, in the icehouse, and at the foot of the stairs
in Dalkeith Palace, Midlothian, 19-21 March 2019
Project directed by Jeanice Brooks and David McGuinness
Recorded and mastered by Matt Parkin
Album version edited by David McGuinness
Many thanks to Dr Matthew Stephens at Sydney Living Museums; Daniel Bochman and the staff of the University of Wisconsin’s study abroad programme Wisconsin in Scotland; Professor Francesca Bray for generously lending her piano; His Grace, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, and the Trustees of the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust; Scott Byrne and the staff at Hospitalfield for the Erard harp; and the legendary John Raymond for tuning and maintaining the piano.
Made with generous support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Great Britain, the University of Southampton, the University of Glasgow, and Sydney Living Museums.
Follow the album link at
www.concal.org for a video for each track.