McFarlane, Ronn: The Scottish Lute (The Scottish Lute - Volume 1)

Album review

Since lutenist Ronn McFarlane's first Dorian disc The English Lute Song was both critically and financially successful, it was all but inevitable that one of his subsequent discs for Dorian would feature lute works from elsewhere in the British Isles. And so here we have McFarlane's The Scottish Lute: 56 tunes drawn from four different seventeenth century Scottish collections. Performing on either lute or mandora (a smaller cousin of the lute pitched an octave higher), McFarlane is called upon to do more in The Scottish Lute than he did in The English Lute Song because while the earlier disc programmed music with written out chords and counterpoints, the later disc programs music for which more often than not only the melody is notated. Thus while the earlier disc required more of him technically, this disc requires more of him interpretively. Here, McFarlane has to subordinate virtuosity to musicality, and because he is more of a musician than a showoff, the results are equal to the achievement of The English Lute Song. Though the music is predominantly quiet, the nuances and subtleties of each piece are revealed in McFarlane's soulful and searching performances. Try just the opening two songs of the second set: "I long for the wedding" and "I long for thy virginite." If their charms are too fay and their aesthetic too quaint, this disc may not be for you. But if the music's intimacy and McFarlane's tenderness move you, by all means, try the rest. Dorian's sound is very clear, but also very atmospheric.
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