This piece is inspired by the small island of Eigg, which lies off the west coast of Scotland. The island has a small community on it and three notable facilities that are referenced in this piece, the first is a small recording studio that I hope to record at in due course, the second is a strikingly beautiful small church at Laig bay and the third facility I have referenced in this piece is the brewery in Laig bay. 
This piece follows a simple yet realistic and mildly humorous
story line. The piece starts with a pipe tune that represents a group of traditional musicians having a recording session in the island’s studio, these musicians cycle through several folk style melodies. At a certain point in the session the musician’s minds start to wander and they start to improvise over a set progression. As the recording session progresses you will start hearing a reel interrupting the recording session, this reel represents a wild party taking
place down at the brewery. The musicians initially try to ignore this and continue recording, however the reel starts betting louder and encroaching into the recording session until the musicians call it a night and head off to the party, now the reel takes full swing.
The reel takes off at a wild tempo and the party is already well underway, however, the reel starts to get altered and wander from its course quickly as the band is getting increasingly intoxicated throughout the evening. 
The band quickly loses the home key and starts to wander around just keeping it together by hanging onto a single motif. Eventually the band decides to call it a night before it gets too late and heads home.

As the new day dawns the musicians from the previous evening have a fleeting memory of the previous evening and arise feeling fuzzy-headed. Then the church bell strikes, it is Sunday morning.
The hungover islanders make their way to church and open worship with a bleary-eyed plainsong accompanied by the ringing of the bell. Eventually, the congregation sobers up enough to sing their hymns. Being an island community the hymn of choice is "Will your Anchor Hold", which is used at every seafaring community service and funeral. The hymn serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of the straight between Eigg and the neighboring island Rhum, where a French trawler lies impaled upon the cliffs to remind us of the sea's
power.
The Church Bell I have used for this piece is the casing of a WW1 artillery shell that resonates at a concert C = 130Hz.

On Eigg

Program notes from my son Ben
Askival is the name of the largest Munro on the island Rum and this piece is inspired by a trip I took with my father to the island.
The piece combines contemporary saxophone with a heavy folk influence, touches of jazz and pibroch.
The multiphonics throughout the piece portray the harsh landscape of the Island and the dangers of that landscape. When the multiphonics resolve to a single pure note this is to
represent the inherent beauty of this rugged and dangerous terrain. The slap-tonguing is used to represent the wild sea and thunder during a storm which passed during our stay on the island which came to a head while we were in a bothy at the foot of Askival. This picture of a storm is further built up by the wind effect from the saxophone. The stream of 6/8 helps represent the ever present rain on Rum. Throughout the piece there are several bars in freetime to represent the seemingly timeless feel of the island which has mainly remained unchanged through the last 2 centuries, with long fading notes representing the calls and cries of the sea birds.
The piece changes into 7/8 to unsettle the steady 6/8 as to represent the the unsettling knowledge of the lives taken by Askival, as the piece works back to 6/8 there is a brief appearance of 2/4 evocative of the long walk around the island.
Following the re-transition to 6/8 the music represents the shape of the Munro with strong upwards motifs immediately mirrored with downwards ones to evoke the shape of the
Munro.
The final section is a smooth lament to represent looking back at the island from the ferry home, but with a reminder of the harsh nature of Rum.

Askival

Line For Lyons (Vaguely   Pissed)

Played on a fully overhauled 1908 Beusher True Tone. Still a few problems around pitch and intonation, many of these are just unique to the instrument. It must have been pretty approximate when it was made.

I Wish I Knew How It Felt To Be Free played on 1908 Beuscher True Tone

Ralph Rainger's Easy Living made famous by Paul Desmond and unfamous by me.

Bruce Armstrong