Fiddler Tam – The Music of THOMAS ERSKINE, 6th Earl of KELLIE:
Overture in C, Death is now myh only Treasure, Quartet in C Minor, The
Lover’s Message, Overture in B Flat “The Maid of the Mill,” Quartet in
A, Trio Sonata No. 5 in E, Lord Kelly’s Reel, Trio Sonata No. 6 in G –
Concerto Caledonia/David McGuinness (Mhairi Lawson, soprano soloist) –
Linn multichannel SACD CKD 240, 76:49 ****:
Concerto Caledonia is Scotland’s leading Baroque ensemble, and in their
third disc for Linn they concentrate on the works of Kellie, or
“Fiddler Tam” as he was best known in the 18th century. This is the
first recording devoted entirely to his music. A contemporary of Haydn
and Mozart, he studied at Mannheim with Stamitz and was one of the
first to use the Mannheim style with its dramatic “steamroller”
crescendos. His instrumental works on this disc struck me as sounding
much like Mozart. The Maid of the Mill Overture was his big hit in
London. Of the two songs featuring the soprano voice, The Lover’s
Message has some double entendre in its text, and the concert aria
Death is now my only Treasure is tied in with Masonic rituals in which
he was, like Mozart, very active. The ensemble plays with great elan
and the sonics are crystalline, but the levels on the surround channels
are so low as to not be there at all.
Overture in C, Death is now myh only Treasure, Quartet in C Minor, The
Lover’s Message, Overture in B Flat “The Maid of the Mill,” Quartet in
A, Trio Sonata No. 5 in E, Lord Kelly’s Reel, Trio Sonata No. 6 in G –
Concerto Caledonia/David McGuinness (Mhairi Lawson, soprano soloist) –
Linn multichannel SACD CKD 240, 76:49 ****:
Concerto Caledonia is Scotland’s leading Baroque ensemble, and in their
third disc for Linn they concentrate on the works of Kellie, or
“Fiddler Tam” as he was best known in the 18th century. This is the
first recording devoted entirely to his music. A contemporary of Haydn
and Mozart, he studied at Mannheim with Stamitz and was one of the
first to use the Mannheim style with its dramatic “steamroller”
crescendos. His instrumental works on this disc struck me as sounding
much like Mozart. The Maid of the Mill Overture was his big hit in
London. Of the two songs featuring the soprano voice, The Lover’s
Message has some double entendre in its text, and the concert aria
Death is now my only Treasure is tied in with Masonic rituals in which
he was, like Mozart, very active. The ensemble plays with great elan
and the sonics are crystalline, but the levels on the surround channels
are so low as to not be there at all.
