cellist * singer * composer
Wendy Weatherby
wendycello@talk21.com
TWO LOVES
When my cousin took up the cello I had grave doubts as to whether it was a musical instrument or not! Some years later I came across Fred Katz playing cello in the Chico Hamilton Quintet and I changed my mind. Katz had made it part of modern jazz and now – for me anyway – Wendy Weatherby has done the same for traditional music. I had caught snippets of Wendy's music over the years but this was the first time I had sat down and listened to her uninterrupted. What a joy it has been and what a lot I have missed in the 20 years since Wendy graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Her pedigree is impeccable, having worked and recorded with Billy Jackson, Carol Laula, Mairi MacInnes, Savourna Stevenson, Andy Shanks and Jim Russell to mention just a few. Her film, theatre and television appearances also add strength to her bow.
Two Loves is – almost – a solo album and follows on from the excellent A Breath on the Cold Glass, previously reviewed in The Living Tradition. I say 'almost' as Wendy is ably supported by James Ross on piano and accordion, and Stevie Lawrence on guitar and just about everything else!
The CD opens with an over-dubbed cello 'quartet' playing Bonny at Morn as an introduction to the song. Not only is Wendy a superb instrumentalist but she can also sing with great feeling. She sings the song unaccompanied before reintroducing the cello. Wandering Willie is another unaccompanied track throughout, with double tracked vocal harmonies. The highlight of the CD for me is the singing of Cruel Mother intertwined with James Ross on piano playing Hamish Moore's Round Dawn. The depth of feeling between voice and piano suit the song perfectly. Church on Sunday skips along with guitar and piano with Wendy playing the title track – Two Loves – as instrumental and how well it works. The final song on the CD is John Tam's Hold Back the Tide from Bill Bryden's epic venture 'The Ship' performed at the Harland and Wolff engine shed in Govan. Wendy actually performed in this production some 13 years ago. The song leads into Phil Cunningham's tune The Ruby.Now to the purely instrumentals, of which there are eight;
The Hybrid Set is an exciting set of reels with the cello, piano, concertina and percussion, all blending beautifully giving just the right amount of light and shade. Duplin House is a slow air from the Niel Gow collection. The piano and cello capture the impression of the 'big hoose'. Temple Locks is a fast reel written by Stevie Lawrence (who doesn't even play on the track!). Wendy and James slow the reel down with great effect, which show off this beautiful tune.
Cannongate Breeks is a set of three jigs by Wendy, which would have anyone dancing down the High Street after a gill or two on a Saturday night. Bobbin John is a showcase for Stevie's small pipes. After the slow air the cello and piano join along with some multi-tracking by Stevie building to an exciting crescendo. Poppies from the Somme brought back poignant memories to me after visiting the battlefields last year. Wendy evokes the horrendous futility of war in her tune for the lads who didn't come home. Laughter in the Gallery, a Strathspey played on the solo cello, disappointed me a little. I feel that John or Stevie joining in would have put the 'laughter' into the tune. Whistle o'er the Lave o't, this Burns' song and final tune in the collection, is a vehicle for James' piano with Wendy's embellishments. If Scotland can lay claim to 'the blues' this is it – a moving piece.
The more I listened to this CD the more I was captivated. Since the release of Wendy's CD A Breath on the Cold Glass she has gone from strength to strength. You must go out and listen – and buy – Two Loves. You won't be disappointed.
Andrew Webster
(Living Tradition)
SUNSET SONG
Readers who attended the 2004 Celtic Connections Festival Commission Sunset Song will know this music well. It seems a daunting task to try and encapsulate the essence of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's epic 20th Century Scottish novel into around an hour of music. However, through narrative songs (with lyrics by the Pearlfishers' David Scott) and sensitive instrumental
arrangements, Wendy Weatherby has succeeded in describing some of this novel's key themes through music: Aberdeenshire's ever-changing landscape, people and farming practices; and war's impact on the land. The thoughts and ideas of the novel's two central characters are conveyed through song by Mairi MacInnes and Rod Paterson, and their voices seem very well suited to the simple, classical style of presentation here.
Sunset Song crosses the classical/folk divide with ease, and instrumentals and songs are nicely sequenced throughout. There's a feeling of lyrical flow, whilst the overall mood created is reflective, nostalgic and sad.
Contributions by Leo McCann (box), Frank McLaughlin (small pipes) and several well-known fiddle players ensure that this music remains rooted in Scotland – the strathspeys and reels are expansively arranged and a ‘big' warm sound is achieved. Wendy's compositions pay consistent attention to melody. We hear her playing solo cello just once, on the rather stark, bleak-sounding Out of the World, and into Blawearie. Key motifs reveal themselves with each listen, and the reprise of two tunes (The Land and Ewen's Tune) enhances the feeling of ‘connection' and continuity throughout the piece. The scoring for strings, piano and oboe especially is both beautiful and melodic – Julie Fowlis in particular reveals her instrumental versatility, her oboe adding a sense of time and place and serenity. This is an imaginative work of considerable beauty, and rewards with repeated listening.
Debbie Koritsas
(Living Tradition)
DAYBREAK ON THE WORLD’S EDGE
Now here's an oddity – and a truly delightful one. Multiple Wendys on multi-tracked cello, with Rod, Mick and Lester singing – Wendy's settings of William Soutar's poetry. Do cellos work in this "folk" setting? Of course they do. There's a long history of the cello in Scots music – Niel Gow's brother often accompanied him on cello and the instrument lies in approximately the correct range for the male voice – so it works spectacularly well. This sits, however, somewhere between folk and chamber music. The word "fusion" is a detestable one, but this music really does straddle the folk-classical divide – quite deliberately, I suspect. The total absence of more normal folkie instruments and the use of singers with what a broad-minded classical enthusiast would concede are "good" voices, accentuates this. It sounds like quite hard work for the singers and a couple of the songs don't work for me too well. It is overall, however, a stunning achievement. The overwhelming majority of Wendy's arrangements and settings leave Soutar's words room to breathe – they are sufficiently sparse that they support, rather than interfere with, the poetry. File this under "intriguing", "musically very clever" and definitely NOT under "easy-listening". On second thoughts, don't file it at all – just buy it and be intrigued!
Alan Murray
(Living Tradition)
A BREATH ON THE COLD GLASS
Going back well over a century, the cello was in common use in Scotland along with the fiddle. That's died out, at least for the most part, but Wendy Weatherby certainly keeps the spirit of it vibrantly alive on this disc, which mixes traditional and contemporary compositions, as well as her delightful singing. She delves into the Nathaniel Gow tune book for "Coilsfield House," a longtime Scots favorite, but she's equally adept on her own material, such as the lively "Ballachulish Tango," where she brings electric cello into play. On "The Learig" by Robert Burns, her singing is captivating, delving right to the heart of the words. The cello has a wonderful autumnal darkness, which Weatherby uses well on "Happed in Mist" (which is also her best vocal performance on the disc). Closing with the title cut, this is a distinguished album. It might not have the outgoing gaiety often associated with traditional Scottish music, the flaring fiddles and dances, but that's fine. This is an artist's expression, and music is wide enough to embrace all, especially when it's this good.
Chris Nickson
(Sing Out)
TWO LOVES
Wendy Weatherby has two loves, but I have three. After listening to her latest album I can't decide what is most to be cherished: Weatherby's sonorous cello work, her mellifluous voice, or her accomplished compositions. This is, simply, one of the most beautiful albums on the market. She opens with the gentle lullaby "Bonny at Morn," then cuts to "Hybrid Set," a spirited and demanding set of reels that are especially difficult to play on the cello, whose long neck requires Weatherby to travel a great distance between notes. Yet she transitions between the four tunes with seeming ease, accompanied only by the tasteful piano of James Ross. The only other musician on the album is fret artist, piper, and percussionist Stevie Lawrence, whose "Temple Locks" appears on the album. It was originally a reel, but Weatherby plays it as an air, a choice that enhances the fragile beauty of the piece. She gives an equally slower treatment to the well-known "Duplin House," a tune often attributed to Niel Gow. It would be hard to exaggerate how pretty this sounds.
But Weatherby is about more than playing "pretty" songs. Bobbin John" is something one doesn't hear every day: a cello/ small pipes duet. The "Cannongate Breeks" is a bouncy jig set, with more than a little cheekiness; the namesake tune refers to an 18th century Edinburgh condition known in the States as the "clap." To balance such sauciness, Weatherby offers "Laughter in the Gallery," which is ostensibly a strathspey, but feels more like a classical composition. It is one of numerous Weatherby originals, each of which is the equal to any of the traditional material she rearranges. A real heartbreaker is her "Poppies from the Somme," written in honor of a World War I Glasgow regiment. Lush, exquisite, and majestic, this is an album for the ages.
Rob Weir
(Sing Out)
TWO LOVES
The cello isn't commonly thought of as a folk instrument, but Wendy Weatherby proves that it can shine in any situation – in the right hands. She's a wonderful player, with gorgeous tone, and a stately feel to pieces like her own "Poppies from the Somme." With just two accompanists – both very capable multi-instrumentalists – she creates an album of gorgeous and imaginative textures. The cello quartet of "Bonny at Morn," for example, is herself overdubbed four times behind her own singing. And she's also a superb vocalist, as the unaccompanied "Wandering Willie" amply illustrates. The breadth of her abilities is evident in the way she works a big ballad like "Cruel Mother," a jig like "Canongate Breeks," or an old slow air like "Duplin House." It's a spare record, with plenty of space to breathe, but that's one of its joys; the nooks and crannies aren't filled with sound. And the rich, woody sound keeps center stage, especially joyful on the strathspey "Laughter in the Gallery." So who cares if the cello isn't normally a folk instrument? In Weatherby's hands it works perfectly.
Chris Nickson
(All Music Guide)
THE MERRY MUSES OF CALEDONIA
Since the Merry Muses of Caledonia World Premier performance in May 2005 at the "Burns an a' that!" festival in Ayr, this jaw dropping show of Burns' bawdy ballads has taken the country by storm.
A six night sell-out show, under the title "Burns n' Blue" at the Edinburgh International Fringe resulted in five star reviews and a huge demand for further performances all around the country, from Dumfries, where the Merry Muses played the opening night of the brand new Burnsong Festival, to as far north as Thurso, where the band played in January 2006).
"The Merry Musos" as they are jokingly referred to, are a six piece outfit, with some of the top names in the folk music world: John Moran (vocals and guitar); Wendy Weatherby (vocals and cello); Gillian MacDonald (vocals); Marc Duff (whistles, recorders, bouzouki & bodhran); Sandy Brechin (vocals and accordion).
At the helm, steering the whole show and contributing some vocals of his own, is world Burns expert Dr. Fred Freeman, who is responsible for "The Complete Songs of Robert Burns" 12 volume CD series on Linn Records.
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