Erik Chisholm

ERIK CHISHOLM'S "PIOBAIREACHED" CONCERTO

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:10:04 +0000

In a press interview in Cape Town in 1964, Erik Chisholm was asked about the chief turning point of his career. He replied: "When I first became acquainted with "Piobraireachd" bagpipe music - later with the instrumental art music of India."

Both influences are the starting-points for Chisholm's First and Second Piano Concertos respectively. Now with the impending release of the magnificent new Hyperion CD (CDA 67880), we can enjoy both works in superlative performances and first class sound and can begin to explore and gain greater understanding of these two very original contributions to the 20th Century piano concerto repertoire.

This is not the place to analyse Erik Chisholm's "Piobaireachd" Concerto. John Purser has done this to perfection in his liner notes for the CD. The work is also thoroughly assessed in his biography of Chisholm 'Chasing a Restless Muse' (Boydell and Brewer, 2009), but some further historical background might be of interest. Some sources give a date for the completion of Chisholm's First Piano Concerto as 1932; however, there are references (notably in M. Tuffin: 'Catalogue Raisonee' ) to some sort of public performances given (a) in April 1930 in Glasgow, albeit in a reduced two-piano form; Chisholm as soloist alongside James McKinlay and Cecil Cumberland as piano-duet orchestra. Later that year on 6th May (b) in Stevenson Hall with Chisholm alongside Harold Thomson and Patrick Shannon in similar mode. Be that as it may, Chisholm continued to work on the piece and it eventually received an official premiere in 1938 with the composer as soloist and the Scottish Orchestra, conducted by Ian Whyte in a broadcast performance from Edinburgh. The public premiere, by the same soloist and orchestra but with Aylmer Buesst conducting, was given in Glasgow on 20th January 1940. In 1953 the conductor Sir John Barbirolli is known to have expressed interest in the Concerto, and its soloists have included Andor Foldes, Kendall Taylor, Adolph Hallis and Agnes Walker. Prior to the recent Hyperion release, Murray McLachlan and the Kelvin Ensemble (conductor Julian Clayton) recorded a fine live concert performance in Glasgow in August 2000, released on Dunelm (now 'Divine Art') in 2001.

After the premiere the reviewer in the 'Glasgow News' wrote: "[The First Concerto] is a full-scale work in four movements, and builds up its Scottish qualities on a foundation of pibroch devices and national dance rhythms. In the first movement a series of changeful moods creates an atmosphere of contemplation in Celtic terms; the Scherzo gives the more combative side of the Gaelic temperament; the Adagio expresses a characteristic melancholy; the Finale develops its lively qualities on Scottish dance figures."

Hearing the new Hyperion recording is a revelation; the immense range of Chisholm's orchestral colour and harmonic originality emerges in technicolour sonority. This confirms my opinion that these two concerti break entirely new ground in the 20th Century and stand alongside the 3 concerti of Bela Bartok in this respect, without in any way being derivative of them.

MICHAEL JONES 2012.

Chisholm's Piano Concerti Recording

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:24:54 +0000

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra recording of Chisholm's Piano Concerti No.1 The Piobaireachd and No.2 The Hindustani took place in Glasgow City Halls on June 8th and 9th 2011. Pianist Danny Driver, Conductor Rory Macdonald and Producer Andrew Keener, joined forces with the orchestra for our first Hyperion CD. Planned for release in 2012, this is a big event on the Chisholm road to recognition. Read short excepts from John Purser's Biography of first performances of these two works.

The Trustees were privileged to be in the recording room for the two days and to meet the orchestra. A truly amazing experience to observe at close hand the remarkable skills and interaction of a first class musical team.

Divine Art's Music for Piano Vol 7

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:24:02 +0000

The latest, indeed the last, in this remarkable Music for Piano series was released in July 2011. Encapsulating all, (well nearly all) Chisholm's piano music since new ones keep popping up.
See Recordings for details.

Other News

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:06:59 +0000

Latest CD
Music for Piano Volume 7 released in July continues the remarkable series of Chisholm solo piano music initiated by Jim Pattison with Dunelm Records ten years ago and continued in recent times by Stephen Sutton of Divine Art. An early review by David Wright begins �Murray McLachlan has done a very fine job of the seven records of Erik Chisholm piano music and the musical world should be grateful to him�. See Recordings for details.

New Recording
Chisholm�s Piano Concerto No. 1 the Piobaireachd & No.2 the Hindustani were recorded in Glasgow City Halls in June 8 & 9. The Hyperion CD with soloist Danny Driver and the BBCSSO conducted by Rory Macdonald will be released in 2012. See News and Events for Details.

New Patron
The trustees are delighted to report that Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has agreed to be our patron. We look forward to a long and happy association. As one of the foremost composers of our time, Sir Peter needs no introduction, but you may wish to visit his web site here Max Opus.

Patrick Shannon
A happy meeting up of daughters of two collaborators in musical crime was the direct result of a concert by the North London Symphony Orchestra in London on the 2nd July. Trustee Fiona Wright who plays double bass in the orchestra introduced the Chairman to the conductor, David Lardi, a close friend of the Shannon family. Asked by him, if she knew Shannon, MC replied �Not personally , but I know about their music making in the 1930s for Active Society concerts�. At a delightful lunch a few days later Shannon�s daughters Joan, Patricia & MC exchanged reminiscences, books and CDs. Read a short excerpt from Shannon�s Musical Memoirs �Watch the Beat� in the Articles section.

Newsletter
The Autumn 2011/Spring 2012 Newsletter, is now available for download on the ECT Trust page.

Watch the Beat

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:07:52 +0100

MUSICAL MEMOIRS of Patrick Shannon

6 The Active Society

In 1929 my friend Erik Chisholm, who was a first class pianist and musician and a very avant garde composer-later Professor of Music at cape Town University- suggested that we should get together and produce some concerts of contemporary music.

So we founded The Active Society for the propagation of Contemporary music-what a title- and it was a point of honour with us that everything we did was a first performance in Scotland. We began with the two of us giving joint recitals in his church which had a fine three manual organ with many orchestral stops. Read the whole article here.

Music for Piano Volume 7

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:08:45 +0100

Divine Art�s Music for Piano Vol.7 has just been released in July 2011.

Listen to Music clip Peter Pan Suite - Tinkerbell

Stephen Sutton, DIvine Art Director says of it; �This is the final disc in this acclaimed series of the unique piano music of Erik Chisholm, dubbed 'The Scottish Bartok' for his amazingly individual use of traditional melodies form his homeland, particularly the pibroch or piobaireachd, ancient bagpipe airs. An essential exploration for lovers of modern piano music, the first four volumes were called 'one of the musical discoveries and revelations of the 21st century' (Music Web).

As at 22 November 2011, there have been five reviews, all online, 3 in Music web. All are very favourable, contain different views. I here present a brief extract from each to give an overall picture.

The scherzo has infectious humour and I actually laughed out loud. A man that can write music that makes you laugh must be clever�. David Wright CD Review 42 Music for Piano Vol 7 can be downloaded here.

The most important pieces on this CD must be the five elegies with which the CD opens. It is hardly possible to listen to the works on this CD and the other six and wonder how such an important contributor to the literature of the piano has gone virtually unnoticed by lovers of piano music. John France Music web. Read the full review here.

The four elegies are by turns clangourous and often coloured by the twists and turns of Scottish folk voices. Rob Barnett Music Web. Read the full review here.

The Peter Pan suite dates from1924 when the composer was twenty; its five movements are affectionate, witty and colourful character studies of Peter, Wendy, the crocodile, Tinker Bell and Captain Hook .Michael Graubart

Listen to Music clip Peter Pan Suite - Peter

With luck, this outstanding piano series will push things along and ultimately lead to the recording of Chisholm�s complete works. That would give a big boost to Scotland�s cultural heritage and add to the musical treasures already turned up in Murray McLachlan marvellous recordings. Byzantion

Unsung Composers

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:34:28 +0100

Topic>> The Music>> New Recordings>>PCs by Eric (sic) Chisholm
Earlier this year trawling through the web, I came across an interesting discussion between members of the above organisation.

Comments & opinions by informed contributors made really interesting reading.

One main contributor Peter Shott had this to say
"I had been dimly aware of the name Chisholm for some years. But he became a name to be reckoned with after I had read his book on the Jan�ček opera (marvelous accounts of them!) Note whole book can be read online at Music Web Then for the first time I heard two pieces of orchestral music- the Pictures of Dante and the Ossian Symphony. Like many others I thought these truly stunning things- and hence my excitement�over the projected Hyperion recording."
Then followed comments from 10 different contributors on the main point of the posting which is
What do people think of the Murray McLachlan recordings of solo piano music on Divine Art, of which so far we have 6 volumes with (I think) another 2 to go.
To read more of this fascinating exchange, Google Unsung Composers

Wolverton Manor Concert

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:44:42 +0100

The first ECT event of the year took place on 16th April on the Isle of Wight, at Wolverton Manor, Mark Patterson�s home and centre for his long running Concert Series.
Michael Jones played an interesting programme of Piano and Organ music, including Chisholm�s Three Preludes �From the True Edge of the Great World�, Beethoven�s Pathetique Sonata, Bach�s Prelude & Fugue in C and works by Pachelbel, Ireland, Franck. Review in the Isle of Wight County Press noted "It was a highly challenging, informative and delightful evening devoted to well known and less well known composers. Mr Jones showed great tenderness and versatility in the way he played."

Classics Unwrapped: Chisholm�s Piano Concerto No 2

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:39:01 +0000

The BBC Radio Scotland�s programme on 7th February 2010, produced by Lindsay Pell, featured the BBC SSO recording of this work, known as the Hindustani Concerto. John Purser and I were interviewed & expressed delight that the recording was receiving a second airing following its inclusion in John�s Scotland�s Music radio series in 2007.

Only short excerpts were played because of contract costs but these together with John�s enthusiasm (thinks it one of Chisholm�s best), his knowledge & great gift of the gab, made for a splendid broadcast. My contribution was small, a short personal comment about living with my father and his music. We now look forward to the new recording of both piano concerti to be released on a single Hyperion Records CD in 2011.

ECT PRS for MUSIC Membership

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:11:23 +0000

MCPS membership was granted to the Trust in 2007. Finally after several years endeavour we heard in December 2010 that the Trust has achieved Successor and Writer PRS membership, giving it full membership. Our first royalty cheque came with the New Year. It wouldn't make us rich over night, but it is good that the ball has started rolling.
We thank all concerned including the Winchester Probate Office and legal bodies in England and South Africa for their help.

A tribute from Divine Art and Murray McLachlan - by Robert Matthew-Walker

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:52:27 +0000

Erik Chisholm 1904-1965
Despite relatively widespread media reporting, claiming that the international classical record business is on its last legs, anyone who has to trawl through the hundreds of monthly issues from across the globe at International Record Review�s offices, never fewer than 500 new titles a month will point to the exact opposite being the case. In terms of repertoire, the classical record business has never offered such a frequently astonishing selection of product as it does today; in those terms, alone, we certainly have never had it so good, but quantity brings its own problems.

With 500 new records last month, 500 this month and 500 next month, in such a world of teeming activity it is only to be expected that previously unknown music, despite being of high quality in itself and well presented by artists and record companies, runs great danger of being overlooked, simply because it is unknown. The adage �it is easy to be successful in the classical record business: all you do is issue records that people want to buy, not what artists want to make� still rings true, but when the music is unknown (being rarely performed, perhaps surviving only in manuscript) and when the composer is infrequently encountered, other factors need to apply in alerting the public to the existence of worthwhile recordings.

This is where the record critic can play an important role. Speaking personally, at least my friends outside the world of classical music have given up asking me �When are you going to get a proper job?�, finding it inexplicable that one can go on listening to music and writing about it as a life-supporting career (just), but when in the course of such listening one comes into contact with a body of work about which one was largely unaware and is convinced by its excellence, it boils down to two things: you can either keep quiet about your discoveries or tell people about them.

For many readers the name Erik Chisholm will mean little. On the basis of a number of recently issued records, and an outstanding recent book by John Purser Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist 1904-1965: Chasing a restless muse (Boydell and Brewer; 2009) we have opportunities to investigate Chisholm�s work in a way denied to earlier generations. In my opinion, as well as that of others, it is certainly worth the effort, for, as the late Charles Mackerras wrote: �Chisholm was a musician of rare capabilities. He was a pianist and organist, a conductor, a composer, a lecturer on music, an entrepreneur and an administrator, and to all them he brought a unique blend of originality, flair and energy.�

Chisholm was born in Glasgow and his Scottishness is clearly a significant aspect of his work as a composer, yet he travelled widely, becoming Professor of Music at Cape Town University just after the Second World War. Before the War, he had conducted the British premi�re of Berlioz�s The Trojans and had also invited Bart�k, Hindemith, Casella and other international figures to Glasgow to participate in performances of their music. He was a piano pupil of the great Lev Pouishnoff (Russian �migr�, a long-time British resident), whose early 1950s BBC-television live studio recitals older music lovers will recall with affection.

Despite Chisholm�s qualities in other areas, it is as a composer that we assess him today, and there can be no doubt, on the evidence of those recent recordings, that he was the most significant Scottish composer (possibly the most significant all-round Scottish musician) of the first half of the twentieth-century and even, in some respects, the most important Scottish composer of all.

The centenary of Chisholm�s birth fell in 2004, and it was during that year that Murray McLachlan began his heroic traversal on disc of Chisholm�s solo piano music for Dunelm Records, with the first two volumes, following an earlier CD for Olympia. A few years later, the administration of the Dunelm catalogue was taken over by the Divine Art group, and four further CDs in the series have now appeared. This series has coincided with releases from Dutton, featuring two of Chisholm�s impressive orchestral works; gradually, therefore, as the catalogue expands, it appears that Chisholm�s importance as a creative figure is beginning at last to find its true significance. These releases are dominated by McLachlan�s currently available six CDs of solo piano music (some of which have been covered over the years in these pages), all now on Divine Art and a more recent single disc of two Chisholm ballets, The Forsaken Mermaid and The Hoodie Craw, in versions for two pianos, played by McLachlan and Graham Scott (ECT Records ECT2010.1, 1 hour 3 minutes, website www.erikchisholm.com).

Newcomers to Chisholm�s piano music will invariably find in it profoundly musical characteristics: first, it is supremely well written for the keyboard, by a composer who we know was a keyboard virtuoso himself � there is nothing �unpianistic� in his writing. This should surely endear Chisholm�s music to pianists, for pianist-composers today are thin on the ground. Secondly, in almost all of his (what one might term) Scottish-Celtic compositions the material is taken immediately from pre-existing traditional material endemic to Scotland. As John Purser writes, �The music that inspires these pieces is some of the oldest and most deeply entrenched in Scottish culture.� The provenance of the music, therefore, is ethno-musicologically natural, later curbed and directed by Chisholm�s evolved creative intelligence so that his mature work takes various archaic elements further, embracing the organization of structure, equating rhythmic elements to a degree with tonal forces. In Chisholm�s music, it seems as if the entire syntax was being newly built up, from old, pre-existing forces.

The one great composer of an earlier generation to whose musical language such comments can also apply is Bart�k (another composer-virtuoso), who stayed at the Chisholm household on each of his visits to Glasgow in 1932 and 1933. If the Bart�k connection can be stretched too far, the newcomer to Chisholm�s music should bear the similarities in mind � Chisholm�s work is not �Bart�k with a Scottish accent�! yet the composers share an intensity of expression, even in their miniature pieces.

Nor is Chisholm�s Scottishness merely melodic and rhythmic colouration having played each of these records quite a few times over several months, I have no doubt that there is a deeply creative musical intelligence at work here. In Volume 1 (Divine Art ddv24131, 1 hour 18 minutes, website www.divine-art.com), we encounter three very varied works. These are the Straloch Suite, Scottish Airs for Children and the abridged (second) version of Chisholm�s Sonata in A in 1939. They are all founded upon Scottish airs, and the Suite � which existed in various forms � is based upon Scottish lute sources first published in 1627, transmuted into piano music of quality. At once, we are drawn into Chisholm�s new musical world, a singular, fascinating and unique tapestry of sound, very well played by McLachlan; the Airs for Children are surely the equal of Bart�k�s Mikrokosmos (25 miniatures lasting 27'54"), but perhaps the most impressive achievement is the Sonata, An Riobain Dearg (�The Red Ribbon�). McLachlan played a fuller version of this remarkable work at the Wigmore Hall in 2004, when it made a very deep impression (and later recorded it in a recital disc (Dunelm DRD0219, 1 hour 14 minutes). The slow movement a threnodial commemoration of the Thetis submarine disaster in June 1939, when over 100 lives were lost during the vessel�s trials remains substantially the same in both versions. In whichever edition, the Sonata is an astoundingly original piano composition: the technique is unique yet inherently pianistic. On this CD we encounter three very different works, yet which are equally clearly the product of the same impressive mind.

Volume 1 having introduced us to the nature of Chisholm�s creativity, Volume 2 (Divine Art ddv24132, 1 hour 19 minutes) explores what one might term Chisholm the miniaturist. There are 42 individual tracks here, comprising three groups of short pieces: ten of the 24 Preludes from the True Edge of the Great World (1943), 26 Airs from the Patrick MacDonald Collection and the six-movement Petite Suite. If you are minded to sample the music, try playing the first Prelude: if this doesn�t immediately grab you and draw you into Chisholm�s world, then I dare say nothing will it is a quite wonderfully unique gem, a description which can be applied to every other track here.

Volume 3 (Divine Art ddv24133, 1 hour 17 minutes) introduces us to Chisholm�s series of Sonatinas for piano, of which he eventually composed six as a group in 1947, with the overall title E Praeterita (�From the past�), the group constituting one of the first of his South African works. The Sonatinas are more formal structures, less overtly Scottish in their melodic provenance; in these, Chisholm identified composers from the sixteenth century (note that this approach was decades before other British composers followed him even if they had been aware of the existence of his music so removed from �neo-Classicism�), but this disc opens with Piobaireachd, a set of pibrochs (from a much larger collection), the music of which I am sure would have appealed to Percy Grainger in its proud statements of musical originality and ethnicity. The piano writing in �Salute to Clan Ranald� is astonishingly virtuosic and tingling in its sense of growing excitement and forward momentum. Perhaps the technical difficulties in these larger works have led to their neglect (this is assuredly not music that �plays itself�), but there is an inherent immediacy of communication with the listener that marks Chisholm out as a truly genuine creative figure and throughout his output, his is music that simply had to be written down. McLachlan plays the pieces most admirably, and the last work here, the Cornish Dance Sonata, is a quite dazzling piece of composition a four-movement, 34-minute work of extraordinarily original inspiration.

In Volume 4 (Divine Art ddv24134, 1 hour 16 minutes), in which McLachlan continues to explore further the composer�s Scottishness, we also encounter Chisholm in more cosmopolitan vein, through the �Portraits� suite, which contains a movement that ought to be in the collection of any quiz anorak. This is �Porgy�, but it has nothing to do with Gershwin�s music, although it was inspired by the DuBose Heyward novel. The novel appeared in 1924, when Chisholm�s music was also written a dozen years before Porgy and Bess dedicated to (later Sir) Hugh Roberton, conductor of the great Glasgow Orpheus Choir. One wonders what Gershwin would have made of this music, no doubt instinctively recognizing Chisholm�s musical qualities as well as his human ones: the empathy of both composers with the dispossessed black character is clear, although differently expressed, and is of great significance in the light of Chisholm�s later hatred of, and resistance to, the rise of apartheid in South Africa. �Portraits� ends with �A Portrait of a Fashionable Gentlewoman� (1925), which begins as suitable cocktail-music but which eventually probes the character more deeply, � la Billy Mayerl or even Cyril Scott in relaxed mood to reveal another side of Chisholm�s remarkable artistry. There are eight further Piobaireachd here, the Third Sonatina (on early sixteenth-century lute pieces), eight little �Cameos� and two Highland Sketches, works which reinforce the composer�s apparent limitless energy and sense of ethnicity.

Volume 5 (Divine Art ddv24140, 1 hour 15 minutes) reinforces impressions that the first four volumes have engendered; the Fifth and Sixth Sonatinas are joined by a Sonatine Ecossaise which Chisholm originally wrote in the late 1920s. The Fifth Sonatina is based on even earlier music thirteenth- and fourteenth-century material (this is 1947!!) and, as this entire conspectus unfolds, the extent and nature of Chisholm�s achievement becomes clear. Perhaps the most fascinatingly titled work here is the �Lament for King George III� (the German-speaking Hanoverian now as Scottish as they come, so far removed from Haydn and J. C. Bach), but there is no denying the genuine qualities of this Lament.

At first sight, the contents of Volume 6 (Divine Art ddv24149, 1 hour 18 minutes) would seem to continue the exploration of what is undoubtedly a major body of piano music, until now unknown to very many people, and offering no new surprises, but this would be a superficial assessment. For it contains two of what appear to me to be among Chisholm�s finest achievements vastly different though they be. These are the Six Bards, a group of six Nocturnes, the quality of which has caused me to question whether any comparable set by a British composer constitutes their equal certainly not their superior. This is music of quite outstanding quality as music and not as a kind of pleasant travelogue north of the Border, and the other achievement is the set of pieces that prefaces the Nocturnes �The Book of Wisdom� � made up of tiny children�s pieces, written for children to play (perhaps at a school concert, or to their family) and with fabulous titles: �He comes in with his 5 eggs and 4 of them rotten�; �Let him that�s culd blow out the cole (sic)� this is utterly delightful stuff, yet the musicianship behind the composition of these tiny miniatures is such as to enter the child-pianist�s sub-consciousness and plant seeds which virtually no other music since Schumann�s Album for the Young, Bart�k�s For Children and Shostakovich�s Op. 69 Children�s Pieces have done with such quality.

There is no doubt that Murray McLachlan�s enterprise is deserving of the highest praise. There is a seventh volume to come, and in great contrast later this year Hyperion will record Chisholm�s two Piano Concertos in its Romantic Series with the excellent Danny Driver as soloist, a disc one anticipates eagerly. By the way there are 12 operas by Chisholm, including The Importance of Being Earnest, The Caucasian Chalk-Circle, and three on Chaucer�s Canterbury Tales all from the 1960s and all in English: any takers, English National Opera?

International Record Review January 2011
Robert Matthew-Walker
Reproduced with kind permission of the IRR Editor Marie Taylor

Awrite, Erik Chisholm!

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:48:36 +0000

Erik Chisholm (1904-1965) is the most interesting 20th-century Scots musician you�ve never heard of. You could call him MacBart�k for his blending of folk material with avant-garde styles. Actually, it may be better to compare him to L�szl� Lajtha � like Chisholm an unfamiliar name outside his own country, a hard-working composer, performer, educator and all-around music promoter who found inspiration among his country�s folk-music yet could be greatly influenced by other sources. Deeper than an overview and broader than a monograph, Purser interleaves biography and analysis with commentary that brings Chisholm�s labors into focus. Appendices list works, recordings and other examples of the musician�s endeavors.

Building a concert series in Glasgow, Chisholm imported Hindemith, Sorabji, Medtner, Casella, Bart�k and Busch. Sorabji�s December 1, 1930 appearance was the only time the composer / pianist played Opus Clavicembalisticum in public. Chisholm turned pages for Bart�k, played piano four-hands with Casella, and performed Szymanowski�s music with the composer in attendance. He arranged Alkan�s Symphony from the Op. 39 �tudes for string orchestra, and gave the Scottish premieres of many operas, including Les Troyens and Idomeneo. Chisholm conducted and performed in Nova Scotia, Italy and India, established Singapore�s first symphony orchestra (1946), and spent his last 19 years in South Africa running the College of Music. He was among the first to write about Jan�ček. Mackerras contributed the Foreword to Purser�s biography which recounts their meeting in Cape Town and discussing the Czech composer�s operas.

Chisholm was a guest of the USSR in July and August 1957. Traveling through Helsinki, he discovered Sibelius in the phone book. Chisholm�s wife had to discourage him from ringing up the great Finn at 2:15 in the morning. In the Soviet Union, he met Kabalevsky, Bulganin and Khrushchev, and sat on a competition jury with Shostakovich (Purser�s biography includes a photo of the two together). Chisholm�s visit was met with enthusiasm: The state offered to publish his Celtic Song Book. He purchased over 70 LPs on this trip.

Chisholm sought literary topics for his operas, including Dark Sonnet (1952), based on O�Neill, several settings of Chaucer�s Tales (1961, 1962), The Importance of Being Ernest (1963) after Wilde, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1963) after Brecht. He found relationships between Celtic and Indian music: the Piano Concerto No. 2, �The Hindustani� (1948-49), the Violin Concerto (1951), and the concerto for orchestra, Van Riebeeck Concerto (1950-51). He used chromatic ragas which eventually led him to embrace dissonance and dodecaphony, e.g., the opera Simoon (1953).

Judging purely on reputation and description, Chisholm�s music promises to entertain. Two orchestral recordings don�t appear to represent Chisholm�s most innovative or modern aspirations. The operas and vocal works are unavailable. However, Murray McLachlan has recorded several discs of Chisholm�s piano music which now appear under the Divine Arts umbrella on the Dunelm Records Diversions series.

Considering McLa chlan�s first release, Chisholm comes into focus as a gifted composer for the piano. These works predate much of his travels and are steeped in his homeland�s melodies. Except for the Scottish tunes, the three-part Straloch Suite with its first movement fugato could be Busoni. The prevalence of diatonic motifs combined with the second movement�s rhythmic patterns suggest that Nyman may have inspected Chisholm or explored some of the same sources when working on The Piano. Scottish Airs for Children easily earns Chisholm the MacBart�k moniker. Drawing upon airs from a 1784 publication by Patrick MacDonald, Chisholm may have intended to construct a graded anthology for his three daughters. There are 22 airs in the collection.

The Sonata in A, �An Riobain Dearg,� is a barnstormer. Chisholm taps into a Highland theme and variations format, the piobaireachd, generally associated with bagpipes. But there are no wheezy drones in these four movements. He employs virtuosic decoration, willfully abandoning harmony to explore embellished melodies. Sorabji and Bart�k are clear influences, the latter in a driven 3+3+2 scherzo. The moody slow movement mourns the loss of the submarine HMS Thetis, which sank killing 99 during its first trials on June 1, 1939. The somber finale is demanding and acrobatic. On the basis of this release alone Chisholm warrants serious examination, and McLachlan would be his greatest advocate. (Purser wrote the notes.)

I am well outside Dutton Epoch�s target audience; their roster is generally unfamiliar, but I admire their industry. Two Dutton releases (2007 and 2009) offer some of what must be Chisholm�s less adventurous orchestral music. The discs� filler made little impression.

Chisholm was a keen recycler of his own music. Completed in 1939, parts of the Second Symphony were reused for a ballet, The Earth-Shapers (1941). The 1948 Pictures from Dante (after Dor�) borrows from an earlier comic ballet, Piobaireachd. This Second is possible only because of reconstructive sleuthing. Its three movements contain six distinctive parts, presumably depictions or illustrations of the life and deeds of the Celtic hero Ossian. The noble sweep suggests Sibelius. The notes observe how contemporaries were busy contemplating The Great War, with Chisholm perhaps seeking influences elsewhere.

Skillfully orchestrated, the dynamic Dante (dedicated to pal Sorabji) stands apart from discmate Arnell�s thin items and Bate�s Third with its puzzling Shostakovich-like anticipations. Dramatically, even harmonically, it doesn�t stray far from Liszt, but there�s a touch of the exotic and a clear comfort with polytonality. Chisholm handles Dor�s images operatically. More time is spent ringing in Paradisio�s chorales than Inferno�s brimstone (12:42 against 9:11). As with the Second, the debt to Sibelius is clear.

It would seem that the Dante Pictures have been performed only three times: in Vienna (1952), South Africa (1960) and Scotland (2008). Of the Ossian�s companions, Hold�s The Unreturning Spring sets texts by James Farrar, killed in action in 1944. Seven poems alternate between soprano and baritone, and a tiny interlude requires winds to improvise with bird calls. The five-minute Sea-Sheen was written by a 17-year-old Fogg. Merok offers variations on a Norwegian folk song.

With kind permission of the author Grant Chu Covell December 2010.

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 16:34:06 +0000

Chairman�s comment
This year has been one of quality rather than quantity. In addition to the foregoing there have been several excellent reviews, some still coming in, long after the CD release. Now 10 years old, we are critically examining what more needs to be done to increase awareness of Chisholm music. One long awaited arrow for our attack, is still missing- the Catalogue Riasonne.
Hot topics are forward planning, a focus on marketing & how to address the financial imbalance. We don�t think reducing expenditure is the answer, so?.. we would be grateful for suggestions from you, our readers.

The top 20�Scottish Classical Music Events of All Time

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:07:49 +0000

CHOOSING the top 20 classical and opera performances of all time in Scotland-as we have done all this week-was never going to be easy, nor conclusive. The legacy lies in the individual memory, or someone else�s memory in writing.
Here though was an opportunity to consider the furthest-reaching moments in Scottish musical history. The task was not simply to judge a piece of music, but to assess the quality of a performance together with the significance and context of its presentation.

I am indebted to our panel of experts. Conrad Wilson was staff music critic of The Scotsman for 27 years, and has attended every Edinburgh Festival since it began. John Currie has directed all of Scotland�s major choruses, working with all the great conductors in the process. Hugh Macdonald is a former head of music at BBC Scotland as well as the former director of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
KENNETH WALTON
SCOTSMAN CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC 16th December 2007

The night the amateurs stole the show

THE TROJANS, KING�S THEATRE, GLASGOW, 1935
The cult of Berlioz has long been stronger here than in his native France, and there�s a good case for the claim that British enthusiasm was first kindled in Glasgow in 1935 when the enterprising Erik Chisholm conducted the British premiere of Berlioz�'s huge opera, The Trojans.

Young Chisholm was undaunted by even the biggest musical challenge, for as well as bringing world-famous musicians such as Bartok and Hindemith to Scotland for the Active Society, his work with the Glasgow Grand Opera saw an astonishing series of British premieres, including Mozart�s Idomeneo.

For The Trojans at the King�s Theatre, Chisholm had professional soloists but an amateur orchestra, which must have been sorely stretched by the demands of Berlioz�s five-hour marathon. Yet the performance was judged enough of a success to prompt a reassessment of the idea that the work was an unperformable failure.

�Glasgow Amateurs arouse the envy of the Musical World� ran one headline, and among the many leading musicians who journeyed north from London for the occasion were Hamilton Harty and Ernest Newman. Chisholm had invited Sir Thomas Beecham too, but he rudely declined, questioning how �this whipper snapper� could attempt such a massive undertaking. Beecham himself would himself conduct it eventually, but Chisholm paved the way.
HUGH MACDONALD

Songs and Sonnets by Eric Chisholm 1916

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:23:05 +0000

This astonishing collection of poems by a 12 year old Eric (he changed Eric to Erik in adult life) had lain in a Glasgow attic for decades until it was given to me last year by my cousin John, son of Jack Chisholm, Erik�s eldest brother. I knew that my father had written librettos and occasional poems for his Celtic Song Book but this collection of 12 poems and 20 sonnets quite bowled me over. Definitely not for publication but Ode to Music is interesting, attesting as it does to his deep love of music at that early age.

Ode To Music
Blend each note so clear and sweet,
Make thy tones be like silver bells,
Stir my blood with chords in numbers,
Each tender thrill the rest foretells,
As I lie back in spell-bound praise,
Dreaming of thee in my slumbers.
I feel the joy of life�s sweet ways,
It brings back to me sweet memories,
I feel I am in Paradise,
A golden well I plainly see,
Thy chords have got me mesmerised.
Each bow that quivers in a shake,
Thy music is a doctor�s cure,
Then one strong note makes me but wake,
Each long struck note so sweet and pure,
And loudly hear a trumpet call far off,
While the wondrous players play with all their heart.
Why music I love you, love you always,
You and I never never shall part.
I see the soldiers marching, tramp, tramp, tramp,
Marching quickly o�er hill and dale,
I hear the soldiers loudly singing,
�The conquered hero down in the vale.
Ah, music, an ode cannot sing thy splendour,
Thy enchantments have long been known,
As day after day has passed away,
Thy works are quickly, marvelously growing.
I dream of a land of roses, I dream of them I love,
Thy notes so clear and sweet make me think of those above.
And carols from thy lines slowly peal,
On Christmas day from morn till night,
Which fills my mind full of delight.
Music thy charms are sweet,
Make thy tones a fairy bell,
Stir my blood with long soft bows,
Each tender trill the rest foretells.

Eric Chisholm 1916

CD Production

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:12:52 +0100

The Trust has been party to the production of 14 CDs in it's 10 years activity. In July 2010 Divine Arts Music for Piano Vol. 6 featured Murray McLachlan's critically acclaimed playing of Night Song of the Bards.

Volume 7 the last in the series was released in July 2011.

The Trust's first venture into CD production under its own label ECT Records, produced the two piano version of Chisholm's Forsaken Mermaid, The Hoodie Craw in August 2010, was chosen as one of Music Web recordings of the month.
Listen to Music clip The Kail March

See Recording Section for more details and to hear other excepts .

Purser's Cape Town Lecture Recital

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:10:40 +0100

Purser's lecture recital Chasing a restless Muse July 20th 2010, celebrated the Cape Town launch of the biography and the College of Music Centenary.

The Chisholm Recital room was packed for his beautiful illustrated lecture with slides covering the personal, historical and musical aspects of Chisholm's life. Musical illustrations, all most ably performed by College of Music students, included excerpts from the bewitching Scottish Airs for Children (Jessamie Jardim), Straloch Suite (Mark Spence), Night Song of the Bards (Olga Rademan) and several of The Poems of Love (Conroy Scott baritone, and Francois Botha piano).

Margaret Morris Movement Centenary

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:07:20 +0100

Margaret Morris was a brilliant dancer, choreographer and artist, whose unique system of dance, the Margaret Morris Movement (MMM), developed into a worldwide organization. In February 2010 an exhibition of her extensive collection of ballet costumes, artwork and other memorabilia opened at the Fergusson Gallery in Perth, Fife where it will be permanently housed. A full programme of events is planned throughout the year to celebrate the MMM centenary.

The artistic partnership of Margaret Morris and composer Erik Chisholm, begun in 1940, resulted in three ballets, The Forsaken Mermaid, The Earth Shapers and The Hoodie Craw. To commemorate the centenary, the ECT has produced a CD, under its own label, of the Forsaken Mermaid and the Hoodie Craw, arranged for two pianos played by Murray McLachlan and Graham Scott

MusicWeb Recording of the Month January 2011

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:03:06 +0100

We are delighted to report that our first ECT Records CD, No. ECT 2010.1, The Forsaken Mermaid, The Hoodie Craw has been recognised by MusicWeb International as one of their recordings of the month. See Recordings and two new reviews.

The Wooing scene from The Forsaken Mermaid, was heard on stage for the first time in over 50 years.

Listen to Music clip The Wooing

Erik Chisholm: Music for Piano, Volume 6

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:30:52 +0100

Listen to Music clip Caprice

Musicweb
Volume six in this series has one especially important collection, Night Songs of the Bards � Six Nocturnes and a series of engaging though lesser works that still repay listening. Written between 1944 and 1951 Night Songs of the Bards embraces a wide range of rhythmic, textual and colouristic influences - Raga, Szymanowski and Sorabji among them.

Murray McLachlan, as ever, is the conduit through which Chisholm�s music flows. His technical armoury and ear for colour are both impeccable and he brings these pieces to life with tremendous intensity and panache, or � when necessary, as in the children�s pieces � unpretentious simplicity. With a good recording and booklet notes, those who have been following this series will eagerly wish to acquaint themselves with this release. Start with those Nocturnes. Read the whole review here.
Jonathan Woolf

Midwest Record (re diversions ddv24149) August 2010-10-17
"The piano great. McLachlan strays from his romance with Russian piano masters to tackle the sounds of other spaces in checking out this collection of miniatures from a contemporary, classical composer. Mostly broken into 5 suites, this is almost moldy fig music that gets saved from that fate once McLachlan kicks it into gear. One of our great musical sherpas, McLachlan is always worth checking out once he gets a new journey going."
Chris Spector

The contents of Volume 6 (Divine Art ddv24149, 1 hour 18 minutes), contains two of what appear to me to be among Chisholm�s finest achievements � vastly different though they be. These are the Six Bards, a group of six Nocturnes, the quality of which has caused me to question whether any comparable set by a British composer constitutes their equal � certainly not their superior. This is music of quite outstanding quality as music and not as a kind of pleasant travelogue north of the Border, and the other achievement is the set of pieces that prefaces the Nocturnes � �The Book of Wisdom� � made up of tiny children�s pieces, written for children to play (perhaps at a school concert, or to their family) and with fabulous titles: �He comes in with his 5 eggs and 4 of them rotten�; �Let him that�s culd blow out the cole (sic)� � this is utterly delightful stuff, yet the musicianship behind the composition of these tiny miniatures is such as to enter the child-pianist�s sub-consciousness and plant seeds which virtually no other music since Schumann�s Album for the Young, Bart�k�s For Children and Shostakovich�s Op. 69 Children�s Pieces have done with such quality.

There is no doubt that Murray McLachlan�s enterprise is deserving of the highest praise.

International Record Review Jan 2011

Erik Chisholm, poem by John Purser

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:22:33 +0100

When visiting Cape Town in July 2010 to participate in the College of Music Centenary celebration, John Purser attended a Poetry Reading at Kalk Bay Books, where he read many of his own poems, ending with Erik Chisholm specially written for the occasion. With his permission we print it here.

ERIK CHISHOLM

You premiered Berlioz and Mozart
Played beside Casella; page turned for Bartok
And entertained him in your home; the pair of you
Sharing pianistic skills and love of your traditions.
You performed Szymanowski for the man himself,
And rescued Walton when he lost the place
In his own music; accompanied Paul Hindemith,
and then played Schmidt to Schmidt.

But you were no outsider, for when you sat beside them,
they sat with you, heard how you played, and
learnt from you, both of your native music and of each other-
for it was you, uniquely, who brought such men together.

Well, you and I have been together now
for several years. As well we never met.
You were so far ahead-besides we would have fought,
Fighting the powers that be, that still
Obstruct our shared ideals

Giving more to others than you ever gave yourself,
you died too young and left your music
lying for years in trunks. Such riches have emerged-
those tiny perfect gems of Scottish airs,
blue as the brightest waters of the lochs:
and the ennobling echoes, as the piobaireachd sounds
�savage and shrill� necklaces of notes
as sensual as the East; crowns of concertos:
operas formed from forbidding myth
and skulls of stark realities:
and works whose crafts is in their mysteries,
dark and profound.

your ashes have been scattered none knows where,
but should there be existence after death, yours would be hunting
through the wild star-scape of universal mind,
chasing a restless muse, that you
might embrace her loveliness once more,
no matter what if anything she wore.

John Purser July 20 2010, Cape Town

Biography reviews

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:01:15 +0100

Chisholm�s contribution has been crying out for this reassessment-that it�s as readable as this is a real bonus. Living Scotsman

As the pre-eminent composer in Scottish classical music in the first half of the 20th century, Chisholm�s long-term reputation will rely not on his administrative skills, or on his Janacek book but on his compositions which have been unjustly neglected. Purser�s welcome book will help to acquaint contemporary readers with the significant and fascinating musician who was Erik Chisholm.
John Robert Brown, Classical Music, p41, 20 July 2009.

A superb publication, it is a massive investigation into the life and music of one of Scotland�s great, but massively underrated composers. It will provide the biographical and musical reference material for all interested parties for years to come.
John France, British Music Society News, 124, 2009, p220-221.

And now a full-length study of Chisholm�s life and music, written by Scottish composer John Purser with considerable insight has been published- a high quality volume of the standard we have come to expect from Boydell. This excellent study with several reasonably extended music illustrations opens up a kaleidoscope tapestry of the work of a fascinating character- composer, teacher, virtuoso pianist administrator, quasi-academic and eccentric- whose neglect over the years by the Scottish musical establishment seems indefensible.
Has Chisholm "Found a Nation's Soul?" John Purser in this first ground-breaking study of a creative intellect of major importance, has produced a powerful argument in favour - and it is to be hoped that further exploration of the rest of his music will gradually emerge.
Colin Scott-Sutherland June 2010

The author paints a beguilingly honest portrait of the indomitable Chisholm, buck teeth and all, but equally does not shirk at detailed analyses of his works along the way even at the risk of losing our patience in describing what, shamefully, in many cases has neither
been performed much less published until now. That is, until we find ourselves carried away with the high tides of Purser�s poetry and passion in defence of his hero�s musical message to us.

This admirable biography will have accomplished its mission well, as will these recordings, if they but clear the way for a long-delayed recognition of this giant of a man whom we were seldom privileged to harbour for long in our midst.
Read the Whole Review
Reproduced with kind permission of the author.
Malcolm Troup - Piano Journal Issue 90 2010

For many readers the name Erik Chisholm will mean little. On the basis of a number of recently issued records, and an outstanding recent book by John Purser � Erik Chisholm, Scottish Modernist 1904-1965: Chasing a restless muse (Boydell and Brewer; 2009) � we have opportunities to investigate Chisholm�s work in a way denied to earlier generations.

Despite Chisholm�s qualities in other areas, it is as a composer that we assess him today, and there can be no doubt, on the evidence of those recent recordings, that he was the most significant Scottish composer (possibly the most significant all-round Scottish musician) of the first half of the twentieth-century � and even, in some respects, the most important Scottish composer of all.

International Record Review
Robert Matthew-Walker Jan 2011

ECT Records CD 2010.1

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:36:17 +0100

Listen to Music clip The Kail March

Purchase The Forsaken Mermaid £10.00 including shipping to the UK

To purchase from outside the UK, please e-mail or write to the Chairman of ECT.

The Forsaken Mermaid - The Hoodie Craw
To commemorate the centenary of the Margaret Morris Movement, the ECT has produced this CD The Forsaken Mermaid and the Hoodie Craw, under its own label, ECT Records. Arranged for two pianos, played by Murray McLachlan and Graham Scott, it was released to coincide with the opening of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival play by Stuart Hopps, My Name is Margaret Morris on 6th August. Directed by Barbara Rafferty, the play was part of the Festival of Dance www.dancebase.co.uk.

Music Web RECORDING OF THE MONTH: December 2010
It is possible to argue that the Glasgow-born Erik Chisholm is one of the leading twentieth-century composers: not only in Scotland but in the United Kingdom and worldwide. Therefore it seems to me almost unbelievable that until a decade ago there was virtually no music by him in the CD catalogues. Since then Dutton have issued the Ossian Symphony and Pictures from Dante and Dunelm have released six volumes of the piano music and the Piano Concerto No. 1 Piobaireachd. Other songs and piano pieces are sprinkled throughout the listings.

The present CD showcases two important ballet scores from the nineteen-forties. One is a major work that ranks beside Sir Arthur Bliss, Constant Lambert, Lord Berners and perhaps even Igor Stravinsky himself. The other, although much shorter, is no less accomplished....Read More
John France

I second John France�s enthusiastic endorsement of this disc. With the knowledge of how the Ossian symphony and Piobaireachd Piano Concerto sound one might reasonable lament that we now encounter these bejewelled scores in the monochrome of two pianos. That said this is so much better than not hearing the works at all and the two pianists are searchingly enthusiastic and expert advocates....Read More
Rob Barnett

The Scotsman, 3rd January, 2011
Since his centenary in 2004, the music of Scots composer Erik Chisholm has become slightly better known to us, both through John Purser�s comprehensive biographical study and through increased live exposure to the music. A Trust set up by his daughter has been instrumental in funding such initiatives, including this intriguing recording of two of his ballet scores-The Forsaken Mermaid and The Hoodie Craw -written for Margaret Morris�s dance company in the 1940s. Both are played here in their two-piano versions by Murray McLachlan and Graham Scott, who illustrate Chisholm�s head-on musical style-a rather beguiling mix of English pastoralism and rugged Celtic cragginess-with admirable diligence. The music is not always pretty, but bears an inner energy that is intoxicating at best , if something of a curiosity in its quirky treatment of Scots traditional music idioms.
Kenneth Walton

"I have listened to the CD several times. I was very struck by the modernity of much of the music of �The Forsaken Mermaid� which in many places, has a very definite Celtic, or more specifically, Scottish ambiance woven into the musical mosaic of ethereal passages, hauntingly beautiful moments, humour, drama and rhythmic vitality. I�m sure it provided an eminently danceable score for Margaret Morris.
The piano writing for the two pianos is impressive. I hope one day the orchestral version (or extracts) may be heard".
Peter Trotter 12 October 2010

Centenary celebration for the UCT College of Music

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:02:59 +0100

TO CELEBRATE its centenary the South African College of Music (SACM) is presenting a series of concerts at the Baxter Concert Hall, Chisholm Room and City Hall. Running from August 21 until a gala concert on September 7, what patrons can enjoy include Mike Campbell and UCT Big Band, UCT String Quartet and an organ recital by Mario Nell. Dizu Plaatjies� African Music studio and a workshop production of Mozart�s Le Nozze Di Figaro directed by Angelo Gobbato with Kamal Khan at the piano are also festival offerings. As is illustrious past student Francois du Toit who winds up anniversary festivities at the City Hall playing Mozart�s D Minor Piano Concerto with the UCT Orchestra conducted by Bernhard Gueller.

The SACM�s journey began when Madame Apolline Niay-Darroll, leading a group of enthusiastic musicians, opened doors in Strand Street to six students. Two years later numbers warranted Henry William Bell�s appointment as principal. In1920, the University of Cape Town (UCT) awarded him a professorship.
London born Bell, was the right man in the right place at the right time. He oversaw the College�s first degree courses and its expansion in 1925, to Strubenholm in Rosebank where - despite superstitions about a turret ghost - the SACM has remained and flourished.
Back in 1931 when Bell saw how UCT�s vacant chemistry lab on the Hiddingh campus could be turned into a theatre, he supervised renovations into what became known as The Little Theatre. 1933 saw Bell conducting Cimarosa�s opera Matrimonio Segreto. A year later after his historical invitation to Dulcie Howes to join the College she, using her ballet students and teachers, choreographed The Enchanted Well to Bell�s own composition, (in time the UCT Ballet Company made up the core when the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) Ballet Company formed).
Bell�s retirement in 1935 and on-going staff problems during World War 2 left the College suffering a hiatus, until in 1946 - like a musical whirlwind - Glaswegian Erik Chisholm arrived. Tossing out what he described "as old wood" he, by appointing renowned international pedagogues of piano/singing/strings to the staff, Chisholm set the SACM on its path to international recognition. As Albie Louw, one of Chisholm�s most famous students, said "Chisholm took on his new job with a firm hand insisting students gave regular concerts at the Hiddingh Hall, and yearly opera performances at The Little Theatre." Another celebrated student is soprano/teacher Nellie du Toit. She remembers Chisholm as "enterprising with enormous drive. He lived long enough to see his opera school, of which I was part, grow into the CAPAB opera company in 1965"
Chisholm�s death brought changes in leadership. With those came curriculum changes, and in 1999 the College became part of the Department of Humanities presently headed by Dean Paula Ensor.
Professor Gerrit Bon introduced Jazz Studies and burgeoning under Mike Campbell (future) celebrities such as Jimmy Dludlu and Judith Sephuma were Jazz graduates. Another innovative move came under Professor James May. He drawing upon Deirdre Hansen and Paul Rommelaere�s expertise introduced degree and diploma courses in African music. The College now offers specialist degrees and diplomas in Opera, Western Classical Music, Jazz and African music.
Composer Hendrik Hofmeyer, remembers "We had a galaxy of marvellous teachers guiding me and fellow students Leon Bosch, John Theodore and Marika Hofmeyer into music careers. At that time Andrea Catzel and Sidwell Hartman were our opera stars under Gigi (Gregorio Fiasconaro)" On the opera front Gobbato took the helm over in 1982. His monumental influence in turning SACM�s Operatic Studies around is one of South Africa�s great success stories.
In fact the list of the SACM�s triumphs is long enough to fill tomes.
Shelia Chisholm, Cape Argus, August 2010

Wills Morgan�s Anglo American Tour

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:55:45 +0100

To celebrate his 50th birthday, Wills Morgan, lyric tenor, has undertaken an Anglo American tour over the next few months.

The Music and the Rhyme, a sequence of songs for a May evening was held on 1st May 2010 at St Andrews Episcopal Church, St Andrews, Fife. Lillias Scott hosted the recital and Wills, accompanied by Richard Black, sang songs by her father, FG Scott, and husband Erik Chisholm. Purcell, Haydn, Quilter, van Dieren and Ronald Stevenson all featured in the ambitious programme, which made for a special evening�s entertainment. Wills is much more than a singer of songs.

My Voice is the Door at The Hub, King�s Cross, London on 5 June was more of the same, yet very different. Accompanist Jeremy Limb and soprano, Helen Cocks, joined Wills in an informal atmosphere of pizza and beer. The first half was similar in content to the St Andrews recital but the second half was all Chisholm with readings from Purser�s biography, piano excerpts from the Scottish Airs and Poems of Love shared between Wills and Helen. The ECT at Wills request has produced a new edition of the Poems of Love with 5 of the 7 songs transposed for medium voice.

Music for a Summer Afternoon at the Cathedral of the Isles, Millport, Isle of Cumbrae on 8th August 2010 was a jewel of a concert. A beautiful venue and programme of songs by Ronald Center, Erik Chisholm, FG Scott and Ronald Stevenson. Fearless, marvellous and roof raising is how Nicholas Hyntner, Director of the National Theatre, described the singing of Wills Morgan at the Cathedral of the Isles when, accompanied at the piano by Alastair Chisholm, he gave a recital of songs by 20th Century composers..