I'm not a purist, I don't think. I love Braebach's rendition of I am Proud to Play a Pipe, and the syncopated percussion on The Whistlebinkies' version of Donald MacLennan's Tuning Phrase. I enjoy cellos or harpsichords with my SSP. I like change and innovation that adds something, not just fiddle for the sake of it. Like cookery, I'm happy to try new things but think that a few good, simple, fresh ingredients in season are better than any amount of cheffery, jus, foams, coulis and wilfully strange pairings of ingredients. And when it comes to CDs of pipe music I like to hear good tunes and good pipes. I don't need anything else...especially any of the following.
1. Electronic keyboards. To be fair I've only ever come across this on one CD (Enlightenment by PM David Barnes). It's one too many...
2. Guitars especially large, thumpy, chord-heavy guitars in the foreground. Really any rhythym instrument that is louder and clearer than the melody instruments, especially when those include pipes. I hate straining to hear pipes or fiddle behind some rumptety tump guitar or a thud thud of bodhran.
3. Trilling about at the end of a tune or set. I've really only come across this on the Grand Concert CDs and on Alasdair Gillies' Lochbroom. I can't think of any need for this. There is no physical need: with bellows or blown pipes it is perfecty possible to come to a neat halt. It really takes the edge off a tune, like an actor rounding off a recitation from Hamlet with a nursery rhyme, or a singer sticking a chorus of The Day We Went to Bangor at the end of Nessun Dorma. Is it some sort of in joke?
4. Honkey tonk piano. The first time I heard this with pipes, on the Seadan CD, it was something really different and I loved it. Hearing it more, hearing it on almost every track of Piob is Fidheall, for example, the novelty has worn off.
4. Honkey tonk piano. The first time I heard this with pipes, on the Seadan CD, it was something really different and I loved it. Hearing it more, hearing it on almost every track of Piob is Fidheall, for example, the novelty has worn off.
5. Banjos. I blame the influence of the session and the fan, both of whom (or possibly which) purport to despise banjos. I'm certainly not keen on big, noisy banjo chords. Having said that a good banjo player can bring out the best in a pipe tune, especially if he's a piper himself (that'll be Martin MacDonald). Picking out the tune, rather than strumming, can also highlight the speed at which the piper is playing and foreground the gracenotes. It's why I love Kevin Macleod's CDs. Even without pipes, or pipe music, I can enjoy a thoughtfully played banjo.
No comments:
Post a Comment