Today marks the release of our recording of Flourish by Nicholas Simpson.
Here’s what Nick has to say about the work “The Violin Concerto was written in honour of my late father, Oliver Simpson (1923-2020). Although not a Scot, he played the bagpipes when I was a child, apparently
making his first set from old vacuum cleaner parts; the pipe band in which he played was one of my earliest musical experiences. Although not particularly drawn to the pipes, I do like Scottish traditional music, particularly fiddle players like John McCusker and Hamish McAndrew. Having been a teenage violinist myself, I grew up listening to the great violin
concertos and wanted to make a modest addition to the repertoire, if not the canon.
The Concerto has two movements which reflect the division in Scottish trad between the Ceòl Mor (Gaelic, meaning the “big music”) and Ceòl Beg (the “little music”). Here the Ceòl Mor is an outpouring of loss, the anguish of the opening giving way to a funeral
march, succeeded by a numb and listless central section. Only after the cadenza does the soloist express a measure of acceptance and tranquillity.
The second movement, Ceòl Beg, is a loosely formed “set” of dance-variations in a plain and energetic style, increasing in speed, with slow and quick marches, waltz, strathspey, jig and reel. I wanted to celebrate my father as much as mourn him: there are echoes
here of 20th century Hibernian favourites like Jimmy Shand and Kenneth McKellar.
The death of my mother in 2023, while I was writing the piece, confirmed that our family was beginning to succumb to the depredations of time (‘A great teacher’, according to Hector Berlioz, ‘but she kills all her pupils’), and thus four of the dance tunes commemorate my parents, my brother and myself.”
Go listen to Flourish now on SpotIfy!
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