Release Date:
Downloads include choice of MP3, WAV, or FLAC
"That Alasdair deeply enjoys playing Highland Bagpipes and our company rises wraithlike from the pages and notes of Lochbroom.
Alasdair talks to us when we read the cover, and the twelve tracks each give his own account for including the selections, while on the back page we are given the reason why the title of this CD is Lochbroom.
For me, Alasdair has flair so rare that only one or two other solo pipers can sit next to it in originality, free flowing fingers, magnificent bagpipe and the unerring ability to speak through the playing of his music.
Straight away, on track one, the first piece, ‘The Inverness Gathering’ has been totally rearranged into a lightened breath of highland air, with delightful, if unexpected, little runs and turns.
The same track finishes with Alasdair’s Hornpipe arrangement of Scott Skinner’s ‘Cameron Quickstep’, which is marvellous.
It goes without saying that the tone Alasdair produces from his bagpipe is magnificent. A thick and sweet pitched chanter sound blending with the drones. It is a very special sound indeed.
On some tracks I am surprised to hear an audience applaud their appreciation, as I would otherwise swear that it is in a recording studio such is their absolute silence during play. Who could blame them for listening so hypnotically until the final note?
I usually only associate the late Scots Guards Pipe Major Angus MacDonald and also, Donald MacPherson with ‘The Earl of Seaforth’s Salute’; but I have now added Alasdair Gillies. What a great coincidence that he recorded this piece at the Scots Guards Club in Edinburgh. He seems to defy the gravity of the beat when he hangs on to those notes which give it its special character, yet he does so without spoiling the cantabile.
Alasdair has a very high ceiling that he regularly reaches on the Competition, Recording and Recital platforms, and it is on these occasions, where the audience expects, Alasdair delivers.
Such is the case with this very special CD, which contains some surprises."
From the bobdunsire.com forum
Written by Roger Huth
"MAVERICK pipers such as the late Gordon Duncan, Fred Morrison and Finlay MacDonald, while thoroughly versed in the conventional approaches of the competition platform, have forged new directions for the Highland pipes in a folk context, but this disc focuses firmly on the traditional aspects of the instrument and its heritage.
Pipe Major Alasdair Gillies is a very famous name in piping (he was described by one American academic as the Michael Jordan of piping), both as a performer and a teacher, and his performances here are as impeccable as you might expect – powerful, technically flawless and highly expressive.
The music was recorded in the course of various live performances last year, and with the exception of one formal Pibroch, his instrumental sets draw mainly on marches, Strathspeys, reels and jigs, both traditional and contemporary.
Well done Alasdair, your Lochbroom music fills my car on long and short drives.
Each Track is a gem."
The Scotsman
Lochbroom
Alasdair Gillies
Downloads include choice of MP3, WAV, or FLAC
"That Alasdair deeply enjoys playing Highland Bagpipes and our company rises wraithlike from the pages and notes of Lochbroom.
Alasdair talks to us when we read the cover, and the twelve tracks each give his own account for including the selections, while on the back page we are given the reason why the title of this CD is Lochbroom.
For me, Alasdair has flair so rare that only one or two other solo pipers can sit next to it in originality, free flowing fingers, magnificent bagpipe and the unerring ability to speak through the playing of his music.
Straight away, on track one, the first piece, ‘The Inverness Gathering’ has been totally rearranged into a lightened breath of highland air, with delightful, if unexpected, little runs and turns.
The same track finishes with Alasdair’s Hornpipe arrangement of Scott Skinner’s ‘Cameron Quickstep’, which is marvellous.
It goes without saying that the tone Alasdair produces from his bagpipe is magnificent. A thick and sweet pitched chanter sound blending with the drones. It is a very special sound indeed.
On some tracks I am surprised to hear an audience applaud their appreciation, as I would otherwise swear that it is in a recording studio such is their absolute silence during play. Who could blame them for listening so hypnotically until the final note?
I usually only associate the late Scots Guards Pipe Major Angus MacDonald and also, Donald MacPherson with ‘The Earl of Seaforth’s Salute’; but I have now added Alasdair Gillies. What a great coincidence that he recorded this piece at the Scots Guards Club in Edinburgh. He seems to defy the gravity of the beat when he hangs on to those notes which give it its special character, yet he does so without spoiling the cantabile.
Alasdair has a very high ceiling that he regularly reaches on the Competition, Recording and Recital platforms, and it is on these occasions, where the audience expects, Alasdair delivers.
Such is the case with this very special CD, which contains some surprises."
From the bobdunsire.com forum
Written by Roger Huth
"MAVERICK pipers such as the late Gordon Duncan, Fred Morrison and Finlay MacDonald, while thoroughly versed in the conventional approaches of the competition platform, have forged new directions for the Highland pipes in a folk context, but this disc focuses firmly on the traditional aspects of the instrument and its heritage.
Pipe Major Alasdair Gillies is a very famous name in piping (he was described by one American academic as the Michael Jordan of piping), both as a performer and a teacher, and his performances here are as impeccable as you might expect – powerful, technically flawless and highly expressive.
The music was recorded in the course of various live performances last year, and with the exception of one formal Pibroch, his instrumental sets draw mainly on marches, Strathspeys, reels and jigs, both traditional and contemporary.
Well done Alasdair, your Lochbroom music fills my car on long and short drives.
Each Track is a gem."
The Scotsman
