EIF: Catriona Price and Friends at The Hub
The Hub - 11/08/23
I heard Catriona Price’s solo album, ‘Hert’, when it was released in January 2023 (I ken her faither) and was bowled over by this 50-minute suite celebrating Orkney, and poetry and music from the islands. Growing up on the Mainland (Orkney’s largest island) and steeped in the traditional fiddle music there, Catriona began her career as a folk musician. Studies at the Royal Academy in London and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester expanded her musical tastes to such an extent that she is now an important composer in her own right, as well as continuing to play traditional music in such bands as Fara. Her collaboration with harpist Esther Swift in Twelfth Day stretches her musical spectrum further, two players with folk roots and classical training.
Explaining that a nine piece band has limited scope for live performances, Catriona was naturally excited to be given the chance to play ‘Hert’ as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, and this concert was yet another example of what Festival director, Nicola Benedetti, is determined to bring to Festival audiences.
A pretty much full house at the Hub (the former Gaelic church just below the Castle) had assembled, with drinks, willing to experience something new and exciting. I can’t say it was packed with young people, but we were very enthusiastic, as the band (2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute, keyboards, harp and drums) started off with the Orkney dialect number, ‘Wur hert is a ba’, the words written by Kevin Cormack, and music by Catriona Price. All the music in the concert was written by Catriona and displayed an astonishing variety of styles. The first number is about the Ba, the crazy ball game played in Kirkwall at Christmas and New Year, dating back a least 300 years. Pre-recorded voices proclaimed Kevin’s poem while the band added musical excitement to the words.
The second song is ‘Swans’, a lovely lyrical rendition of a poem by the most famous Orcadian writer, George Mackay Brown, who died in 1996. This was our first introduction to the three voice harmonies of Esther Swift, Catriona Price and the flautist, Sarah Hayes, which became more and more important as the concert developed. These harmonies, written by Catriona, use the clear, pure voices of the three women to exceptional effect, neither conventionally folky but not classical either. These vocal contributions were to me the high point of a thoroughly excellent evening. All the musicians were amplified, but the volume levels were miraculously controlled so we could hear individual voices and instruments clearly and without distortion.
The third song, ‘No such thing as belonging’, with words by Harry Josephine Giles, is set to a jazzy beat, and wonderfully sung by the violinist, Seonaid Aitken, whose big bluesy voice is perfect for this witty poem, which starts - ‘If home is an island, build a bridge!’
Catriona has written a couple of instrumental pieces based on two books which have been important to her, and they were played at ideal moments in the concert. Her quintet based on the tragic events in Ukraine, ‘St Sophia’, and written for one of her other groups, the string ensemble, Thirteen North, was a beautiful piece, fusing Ukrainian modality and rhythmic patterns with a Scottish slow air.
This was a fantastic concert, given by a splendid group of musicians, led by the charismatic and immensely talented Catriona Price, and I must congratulate Nicola Benedetti for featuring such great Scottish music and players on the international stage. For too long, our native talents have been hidden away at Festival time, somehow embarrassed to be seen alongside world class performers. No longer, and I sincerely hope we can see far more Scottish input in the future.
That international quality popped up at the end of the concert, as the band played a terrific cover of Björk’s ‘Hshh, it’s oh so quiet!’ as an encore!
