The Georgian House: Beethoven, Burns and the Folksong

The Georgian House - 17/06/22

Last night I was privileged to attend a concert in the splendid settings of the Georgian House in Charlotte Square. This lovely National Trust property was built towards the end of the 18th century and  may have entertained concerts like this back in the day. However, it is doubtful whether they would have reached the height of this concert in terms of the quality of music, the singers and their accompanying musicians. In the perfect setting of a drawing room, surrounded by beautiful art, including a fine Allan Ramsay portrait of an unknown lady. Tonight’s concert was narrated by Bill Zachs, whose work on the Scottish music publisher George Thomson led to the evening. Thomson commissioned Beethoven to write 180 arrangements of Scots songs and poems by Burns and other Scottish poets.They helped spread the influence of Burns and Scottish culture across Europe in the 18th and 19th century and for this Thomson deserves a more prominent place in Scottish culture, something Bill Zachs is helping to put right. Incidentally, this is still relevant today, the “cultural cringe” in Scotland (ie the belief that everything outside Scotland is of greater importance than what goes on in Scotland) is alive and well. A few years ago we celebrated the bicentenary of Burns and I asked the then director of the Edinburgh Festival Jonathan Mills why there was nothing about Burns in the festival he said “ well everyone is bored with Burns now”! I said “so Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms and Mendelssohn thought Burns was important, but the Edinburgh Festival thinks he isn’t!” More recently this year’s Edinburgh Festival programme contains no Scottish composers, and almost no Scottish theatre, but it does have a song and dance act by Alan Cummings on Burns. We wait to see whether this adds anything to our understanding! 

Friday’s concert was arranged along with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Scotland’s leading mezzo~soprano Karin Cargill tutoring a number of young students in the songs.The concerts were hosted by the National Trust of Scotland at their properties in Kirkcudbright, Culzean Castle and the Georgian House.There was a packed drawing room at the Georgian House last night for the concert and it was wittily introduced by Bill Zachs, who explained the project and introduced the songs and the singers.

First up was mezzo~soprano Pippa Blundell, who sang ‘Sad and Luckless Was the Season’, the text by Scottish poet William Smyth. Pippa has a lovely warm mezzo voice with lots of colour and sang it beautifully. Afterwards Bill Zachs told us that the tune which seemed familiar was adapted by Irish composer Tommy Moore and became ‘The Last Rose of Summer’, one of the most famous Irish songs ever! Next up was ‘O Mary Ye’s Be Clad in Silk’, text anon, sung by Lithuanian tenor Deirunas Jasiulionis, a fine young singer who did it justice. Andrew Neill sang ‘The Parting Kiss’, which as Bill Zachs pointed out has more than a passing resemblance to Burn’s famous ‘Ae Fond Kiss!’ Andrew sang it beautifully. The Conservatoire have a rich harvest of young singers coming out to entertain us. Katie Carmichael, soprano, sang ‘Highland Harry’ by Burns with great commitment and passion, and this Beethoven arrangement fits the song perfectly.

‘The Highlander’s Lament’ was sung by Pippa Blundell with the backing of Simon Brown and Andrew Neill, again a gorgeous arrangement. A word too about the musicians who were superb. Marianna Abrahamyan, an Armenian pianist (whose speciality is Ligeti!) provided the perfect accompaniment, aided by very skilled violinist Ines Soares and cellist Josiah Duhlstine. All were excellent. We then had Karen Cargill singing ‘Again My Lyre’, text by William Smyth. Karen is of course an international opera star and the power of her voice easily fills the Usher Hall, so at times it may have been too big for our drawing room setting, but her melody and coloratura compensated - again a song that deserves a wider circulation. Holly Jarvis with her bright red hair is a colourful mezzo in every way. She sang ‘Faithfu’ Johnnie’, text by Anne Grant, and it was lovely. Katie Carmichael came back to sing ‘Bonny Laddie, Highland Laddie’, text by James Hogg, a better known song by another neglected Scots writer. Karen Cargill returned with Andrew Neill to sing ‘Behold, My Love’ by Burns, and Andrew Neill complemented Karen well - not a bad project for a young baritone! Simon Brown, a good young English tenor, sang ‘Sir Johnie Cope’ by Burns and Beethoven’s setting perfectly reflected this great Scots song.We ended the evening with ‘Auld Lang Syne’ which, as Bill Zachs pointed out, was adapted by Burns from traditional material. Of course the tune that was used and the tune that we sing every year may not have been the one that Burns used at the time, as my folk adviser David Francis has pointed out. Still it is of course the most widely sung song in the world, particularly at New Year - not bad for a wee country, albeit one whose music and poetry Beethoven loved. Bill Zachs, the Conservatoire and the National Trust deserve our thanks for making George Thomson better known and giving us a perfect concert. This was a performance of international quality and of course the Conservatoire is one of the top music schools in the world. My only caveat is that it might have been better to have the text of the songs in the programme. Words are important in traditional music, and I gather an earlier performance did have the text in the programme in deference to this. Apart from that this was a wonderful concert, which would not be out of place in the Edinburgh International Festival. Given the Festival’s lack of Scottish culture this year, it would be most welcome. I shall send this review to the Festival director!