(Preview) Home and Away - Songs of Travel, and Return

St Michael’s Church, 1 Slateford Road, Edinburgh EH11 1NX - 22/08/23 at 4pm        

A Recital of Songs, new and old, performed in the beautiful and spacious church of St Michael in Slateford Road in Edinburgh, celebrating the genius of Robert Louis Stevenson and the versatility of a variety of composers over the years. 

The well-known Scottish bass, Brian Bannatyne-Scott, accompanied by the fine pianist, Stuart Hope, present a concert of songs dealing with the nostalgia of the traveller for the memories of childhood and early life in Scotland. Writing towards the end of his life in the Pacific paradise of Samoa, Robert Louis Stevenson was drawn back to his childhood in Edinburgh, and his deeply moving poems, beautifully set by Ronald Stevenson and Ralph Vaughan Williams, hearken back to those days of dark skies, warm fires and walks in the New Town and the Pentland Hills. 

The composer, Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766 -1845), was the daughter of a staunch Jacobite family, who were exiled to France after the ‘45 Rebellion but returned to their estates at Gask just before Carolina was born. A contemporary of Robert Burns, she married Lord Nairne, and lived for many years in Edinburgh, near Duddingston, writing pseudonymously, since female composers were frowned upon. Her poems, usually set to traditional Scottish airs, were hugely popular, and many have remained in the repertoire. Today, we hear ‘Will ye no’ come back again?’ and ‘The News fae Moidart cam yestreen’.  

Poems by William Soutar and Philip Larkin inspired the Edinburgh-born composer, Hugh S Pyper, to write three very different songs in Scots and English, which see their premiere at this concert, as does the splendid song cycle by Edinburgh-based composer, Nigel Don, ‘Don’t ask the Time’. 

This cycle, written for bass, violin and piano, sees Brian and Stuart joined by the wonderful violinist, Emma Lloyd, in a series of songs roughly following the path of man’s existence from birth to death. Judiciously chosen poems from a wide range of poets have been set to music of great appeal by a composer who deserves to be better known. 

Admission is free, with a collection for the artists at the end. Please come and hear a superb concert in a delightful venue, not far from the city centre and well-served by buses 4, 34, 35 and 44. The concert will finish about 5.30pm, allowing time to return to central venues for evening concerts and shows.