This is a glorious piece of music, unjustly neglected. Its combination of brevity and musical depth is ideally suited to amateur pibroch players and learners. If competition organisers can’t change the rules to allow gems like this to gain currency, then something is seriously wrong! This is one of many good tunes that don’t fit our institutionalised thinking or event categories. The […]
Spellweaving
Pibroch on 30,000-year-old flute
I’d like to share my arrangement of Hiorodotra cheredeche (PS 126) for a prehistoric bone with four finger holes. The original is about 30,000 years old and was found in Isturitz cave, southwest France. It is made from the wing bone of a Griffon vulture - a Gyps fulvus ulna. Last May, thanks to the European Music Archeaology Project, I […]
Pibroch on the Harp
Bill Taylor recently sent me a recording to review of McLeod’s Lament played on wire-strung harp, closely following Colin Campbell’s 1797 notation. This is the earliest setting of Lament for the Harp Tree (PS 135). I am excited because we are nearing the end of a 12-month collaboration developing a CD and recital programme which, together with this website, form counterparts to my PhD […]