Thursday, February 12, 2009

Something to Look Forward To

Bonnie Rideout is a respected fiddler in the Scottish tradition. I was excited to run across the news that she is working on an album which is piobaireachd only. Somebody later told me that it has been an ongoing project for some years, so there's no telling when it might actually be complete--still it is an interesting idea, and worth waiting for. The full extent of my knowledge of fiddle piobaireachd is limited to a single (and time-dimmed) hearing of "MacIntosh's Lament" as played by Rideout. The notes about her project make me curious, especially the claim that there are piobaireachds written expressly for the fiddle. Theoretically, this could mean tunes that utilize a two, or even three octave range. I find the notion of a piobaireachd in a range of more than nine notes almost as incomprehensible as I do a fourth dimension. . .but it sounds like an art worth hearing.

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