JOHN DEW
Na Caismeachdan
John Dew is a busy young man. A virtuoso pipes and fiddle player and recent graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, he’s already knocked up a seriously impressive set of collaborations, achievements and involvements, too many to list here but it’s safe to say that he has been taken to the heart of some of the heavyweights of the Traditional scene. However, this, his third solo release allows him to demonstrate his personal musical ambitions. Looking to fuse tradition and classical influences, whilst exploring the realms of polyphony. The immediate impression of ‘Na Caismeachdan’ (transalation – The Marches) is that there is a filmic quality to his compositions, a feeling that is borne out by the discovery that yes, he has found the time to score for some short films already. For an award-winning piper, it is there for a surprise that it takes until track three ‘Red Castle’ for him to cut loose, setting a base sound to the track before revealing flourishes that confirm those attributes that set him apart.
Of course, to deliver on this scale requires a supporting cast equal to the musical challenges its writing creates, and this he has managed to achieve. In particular the accompaniment of pianist Michael Biggins, but within the nine original tracks there is a range encompassing solo bagpipes to a string quartet, providing variety and sustained interest across the album, which is completed by his take on ‘The Sound of the Sea’ – by P/M Donald MacLeod.
Not a young man without ambition, having used this to experiment with orchestration, his next project may well be a promised whistle Concerto. We’ll wait with interest.
