ERIK CHISHOLM (1904-1965)                                  THREE MINIATURES

FREDERICK LAMOND (1868 – 1948)                       SONATA IN D MAJOR

MARIE DARE (1902 – 1976)                                        HEBRIDEAN SUITE 

ERIK CHISHOLM (1904-1965)                                    HERT’S SANG

Transcribed for piano solo by Ronald Stevenson

 NEIL MACKAY (1947 – 2023)                                      SCENA

ISOBEL DUNLOP (1901 – 1975)                                   SUITE

A few years ago, a ‘lost’ work for cello and piano by Scottish composer, Neil MacKay, surfaced amongst my music scores. After including this piece in a few concerts, it inspired me, together with cellist Veronica Henderson, to delve deeper into Scotland’s musical heritage. Given that we were both born and raised in Scotland, this seemed an obvious project for us to embark on and has already introduced us to a considerable collection of works which are seldom or have never been performed and often are still unpublished.

Our programme encompasses music spanning over a century from the Sonata in D Major for piano and cello by the Glaswegian composer/pianist Frederick Lamond, first performed at St James’ Hall, London, in 1889, to Scena by the Edinburgh composer Neil Mackay, composed in the 1980s and which Veronica and I premiered in 2024.  Stylistically this ranges from an expansive three movement sonata by Lamond, in which influences of Beethoven and Brahms are evident throughout, to a taut twelve-tone work by Mackay alternating cleverly constructed slow and fast dramatic dialogues between the two instruments.

Heard more often nowadays is music by two East coast composers, Marie Dare and Isobel Dunlop. After World War II, both of them found themselves at the heart of Edinburgh musical life.  The six short pieces which make up the Hebridean Suite by Marie Dare are musicals depictions of highland life and landscape. The titles of the three pieces in Isobel Dunlop’s Suite, Prelude:Conversation, Dance, and Elegy, capture perfectly the intent of the composition.

Before WWII, Glasgow had the beginnings of an international Music Festival thanks to the efforts of Glasgow born composer Erik Chisholm: sadly, a rather neglected name in Scotland now, possibly due to him living and working abroad after World War II. Throughout the 1930s though he invited international musicians to perform in his music series, the rather awkwardly named, “Active Society for the Propagation of New Music” which saw the likes of Bartok, Walton, Medtner, Sorabji, Szymanowski, and Hindemith (just to name a few!) visit Glasgow to perform their music.

We will include 3 miniatures for cello and piano by Chisholm which to my knowledge have not ever been performed. Also being premiered is an arrangement of Hert’s Sang, one of many beautiful songs composed by Chisholm at the end of his life when he was living in Cape Town. This was arranged for solo piano by his colleague and friend, Ronald Stevenson who, though not born in Scotland, was a very well-known personage on the Scottish music scene until his death 10 years ago. Stevenson dedicated his arrangement of Hert’s Sang to Chisholm’s daughter, Morag. It has recently come to light amongst her papers.