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"Queen of the South" is an eclectic selection of songs which I have enjoyed performing at various venues throughout Dumfries and Galloway. The songs reflect the diversity of my repertoire and each one carries a significant memory of particular performances with the many groups and organisations I have been associated with over the years and I am delighted to be able to share the songs and the memories with you in this album.
It is always a delight to be asked to sing at a wedding ceremony and I have lost count of the number I have now performed at over the years.
Under the banner Songlines - Songs for Special Occasions I have built up a repertoire of traditional wedding songs ranging chronologically from Vivaldi to Bernstein and the first three songs on this album are three of the most popular in that repertoire.
Alleluia (from Mozart's Motet in F for Soprano, "Exsultate, jubilate"K1165 K6 158a) is a joyous piece and has been a firm favourite of mine since I first sang it at a double wedding in Greyfriar's Church in Dumfries.
The motet was written in 1773 when Mozart was only 17 and was originally performed by Venanzio Rauzzinni, a celebrated castrato.
Another Mozart work, his Vesperae solennes de Confessore, K339, (‘Solemn Vespers for a Confessor’), composed in 1780 comprises six movements, the fifth movement being the Laudate Dominum set for soprano solo. My first experience of performing this piece came during a wedding at St Theresas Church in Dumfries and I have been fortunate enough to sing it on many occasions since, most recently with the Dalgarno Singers.
Ave Maria (Ellens Gesang III) D. 839 (Op. 52, No. 6) By Franz Schubert is perhaps one of the world's most popular art songs and is the most frequently requested of any of the songs in my wedding repertoire . I have performed this song in many of the Churches in Dumfries, most often in the Crichton Memorial Church. The text is from the poem by Sir Walter Scott and was translated to German by D. Adam Storck.
Scots songs have always been a feature of my repertoire and I have added many to my list over during my years of performing solos with the Gallovidian Fiddle Orchestra and, more recently, in my role in the Sounds Scottish Annual Summer Show at the Old Well Theatre in Moffat, where I am always touched by the great appreciation and friendliness of the audiences - locals and visitors alike.
Durisdeer is very much a local song. Written by Lady John Scott, it is a beautiful love song set in the lovely little hamlet of Durisdeer which lies nestled among the Lowther Hills, just off the Dalveen Pass above Thornhill. One of my earliest performances of this song was in the parish church in Durisdeer - itself a glorious setting in which to sing any song but particularly fitting for this one.
I must be virtually impossible to be born and brought up in Dumfries without at some point encountering the work of Scotland's National Bard - Robert Burns. Although born in neighbouring Ayrshire, Burns lived part of his life in Dumfries and indeed died there in 1796. Every January the town and its environs resonate with the sound of countless recitations of Tam O' Shanter and is steeped in the aroma of haggis, neeps and tatties as the annual Burns Supper season gets under way and fans gather to celebrate the bard's birthday. In amongst the speeches and the recitations the songs, written or "collected" by Burns provide a musical interlude to the "nichts oangangs". i've choosen two Burns songs - one for the lassies and one for the laddies! Both were included in Burn’s collection of “bawdy” ballads – The Merry Muses of Caledonia. However both Comin’ Thro’ The Rye and John Anderson, My Jo are performed here in their more familiar “sanitised“ versions.
I have performed both of these songs (in the cleaned up format!) at many Burns functions in village and town halls from Mouswald near Dumfries(usually the first Burns Supper of the season) to the high school hall in Annapolis, Maryland USA as a guest of the Robert Burns Society of Annapolis, with many venues throughout Dumfries and Galloway in between.
My final Scottish Song I think I probably first sang many, many years ago in Troqueer Community Centre in Dumfries - an appropriate setting in that Troqueer was home to my Mother's family for many years and this song was a great favourite of both my maternal Grandmother and my Mother (a superb singer herself in her younger days). To their memory I dedicate My Ain Folk by Laura Lemon.
From a favourite of my Mothers to one of my Father's. Dad, a native of Peebles or “Gutterbluid” also had a great voice and was a superb yodeller and the first song in my "nostalgia" selection is one in which he used to sing the verse then yodel the chorus - something I haven't been able to master! Like John Anderson in the Scottish section Silver Threads Among The Gold by Eben Eugene Rexford and Hart Pease Danks is a beautiful love song about growing old together. This is followed by Loves Old Sweet Song by P J O’Mallay then When I Grow Too Old To Dream from The Night is Young by Sigmund Romberg.
This section ends with the old Music Hall Favourite After The Ball by Chas K Harris which was featured in the Jerome Kern musical Showboat.
I have performed these songs many times in halls, day centres, homes and hospitals throughout the region and it is always wonderful when the audience join in and sing along to these lovely old melodies.
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