Kindred Spirits: A Musical Portrait of Scotland's Women

1. Mrs. Gunn's/Sweet Molly/Wise Maid

2. Miss Gordon of Park/Criagellachie Lassies/The Honourable Mrs. Drummon

3. Tunes from the Western Isles: Thogail A' Bhuntat! (To Lift the Potat)

4. Highland Mary or Katharine Ogie

5. O' A' the Airts/My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose

6. Roy's Wife O' Alldivaloch/Aldavaloch or O'Er the Moor Amang the Heath

7. Miss Elspeth Campbell

8. Mrs. Stewart's Strathspey/My Wife's a Drunkard/Miss Susan Cooper/Anni

9. Bonny Jean of Aberdeen

10. Bhanarach Dhonn a Chruidh (The Brown Milkmaid) /Smi Gabhail an Rath

11. Laoidh Rebecca (Rebecca's Hymn)

12. Kindred Spirits

Editorial Reviews

The Herald (Scotland)
"Her playing is so intensely personal and emotional that one feels like an eavesdropper." --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description
A champion in a rising generation of Scottish fiddlers, Bonnie is called "the piping fiddler" for her evocative renditions of Highland bagpipe music. Here she returns to her roots in a celebration of the women of Scotland. With ancient Gaelic airs, strathspeys and reels of today's Scotland, performed on Scottish fiddle & viola with Highland bagpipe, uilleann pipes, wire-strung Celtic harp, guitar, cittern, cello, bodhran, snare & bass drum. Praised by the Washington Post who said,""Both a classically-trained violinist and three-time US National Fiddle Champion, Rideout uses these twin disciplines to combine an impeccable sense of intonation, timbre and phrasing with the imagination to spin variations on repeating folk themes...She has used these linked skills to tackle not only the fiddle tradition of Scottish music but the pipe tradition as well...She forgoes the heated flamboyance of popular fiddlers in favor of a cooler, more meditative approach...Rideout brings the elegant severity of chamber music to the repertoire, eschewing frilly embellishments for strong, clean lines." --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Kindred Spirits: A Musical Portrait of Scotland's Women

Tracks:

Mrs. Gunn/Sweet Molly/Wise Maid
Miss Gordon/Graigellachie Lassies/Mrs. Drummond
Tunes From The Western Isle
Highland Mary
O'A' The Airts/My Luve Is Like A Red, Red Rose
Roy's Wife O'Alldivaloch/Aldavloch
Miss Elspeth Campbell
Mrs Stewart's/My Wife's A Drunkard/ Susan Cooper/A.S. Scott
Bonny Jean O'Aberdeen
Brown Milkmaid/Bewitching Eyed Brown Maid
Rebecca's Hymn
Kindred Spirits

Album Description

A champion in a rising generation of Scottish fiddlers, Bonnie is called "the piping fiddler" for her evocative renditions of Highland bagpipe music. Here she returns to her roots in a celebration of the women of Scotland. With ancient Gaelic airs, strathspeys and reels of today's Scotland, performed on Scottish fiddle & viola with Highland bagpipe, uilleann pipes, wire-strung Celtic harp, guitar, cittern, cello, bodhran, snare & bass drum. Praised by the Washington Post who said,""Both a classically-trained violinist and three-time US National Fiddle Champion, Rideout uses these twin disciplines to combine an impeccable sense of intonation, timbre and phrasing with the imagination to spin variations on repeating folk themes...She has used these linked skills to tackle not only the fiddle tradition of Scottish music but the pipe tradition as well...She forgoes the heated flamboyance of popular fiddlers in favor of a cooler, more meditative approach...Rideout brings the elegant severity of chamber music to the repertoire, eschewing frilly embellishments for strong, clean lines."

Customer Reviews:

Richly expressive.......1999-05-01

I can't put this album on and just let it play because there are some tracks on it that I actively dislike. But ones I like are so very good that I nevertheless consider this a five-star CD. Bonnie Rideout is perhaps the leading exponent of the Scottish fiddle tradition these days, with five albums published in the last five years. She does not import ideas from other genres. Yet she succeeds (sometimes) against the biggest challenge in the tradition - she makes it sound fresh.

Rich Celtic Tapestry.......1998-05-28

This CD departs from some of the traditional approaches of reel and jig sets. Tunes blend into one another and instrument voices spiral around central themes - There are many emotions and perspectives on this recording, from the joyous assertions of life's energy to somewhat sad introspection. Bonnie Rideout weaves a collection of simple tunes related to Scottish Women into a very rich tapestry of living music.

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