This is a 5-minute sample of the music I wrote for piano and orchestra describing a traverse of the Black Cuillin Ridge in Skye. The landscape is unique in Britain, being the most Alpine mountain chain of sharp peaks, narrow ridges and deep rocky corries. The ridge can be traversed in a long, tiring day. The music describes this. This sample presents the elation at reaching the first peak, the ridge walk and the wild corries.

Black Cuillin Ridge (Sample)

The bright tone of the clarinet is used to recall the story of the young man taken by his dad for his first mountain expedition in the Cairngorms and what happens when it all goes wrong. They are rescued and live to tell the tale, though.

Cautionary Tale

Duncan, the great fiddler of Badenoch could turn any occasion into a ceilidh with his vast repertoire of tunes from all over Scotland. On one of his travels, he was playing his fiddle while resting by a hillock and some passing fairies invited him to join them in their underground kingdom as they had heard his fiddling. He made a great impression on the king of the faeries and had the audacity to add a phrase to their royal anthem. Duncan turned the occasion into a long party of fiddling, dancing and merriment. When after seemingly ages he begged the fairies to allow him to continue his journey back to Badenoch, they agreed, reluctantly. On returning to his home village, however, he found 100 years had passed, he recognised no-one, his house was in ruins and his playing was mocked. The villagers had turned out instead to see the great local sensation, the pipe band. The band strode into view playing his old tunes, but changed to the pipes' key of B-flat major! After an altercation with the band, trying to re-establish the original key of his tunes, Duncan staggered off, distraught. By all accounts he went to re-join the fairies and could be playing to this day.

Badenoch Legend

Tam The Gig

The night Max wore his wolf suit.... all kinds of mayhem ensued until he was sent to bed without his supper. The mayhem didn't stop there, though! Maurice Sendak's classic children's tale was made into an extended opera and film after this 13-minute version was written. Originally designed for two bassoons, then wind quintet, this is the chamber orchestra version, with extra percussion. Let the wild rumpus carry you away!

Where The Wild Things Are

This is the first of two companion pieces to the famous unfinished work of Franz Schubert. These pieces were "to cheer Schubert up" after failing to complete his 8th Symphony. They do not complete the symphony, but go some way to satisfying the ear when played to follow the first two movements. This 1st new companion references Schubert's lightweight scherzo style, but the trio is a dreamlike section of flowing lines and passing dissonances. This companion is called Morpheus, after a Greek god of dreams who appeared as a shape-shifting demon.

A New Companion (1)

This is the second new Companion to cheer Schubert up. While the anxiety he conveyed in his own 8th Symphony is still here, rearing up in a variety of forms, like someone complaining about a variety of misfortunes, the general trend is for this anxiety to be soothed and dissipated as the movement goes on. A kind of "questing and coming home" story, finishing with the opening notes repeated, but in reverse order. The name of this Companion is Pacithea, after a Greek goddess who calms things down, mother of Morpheus.

Another New Companion (2)

Dierdre of the legend was surrounded from birth by prophecies of causing much sorrow, and as a young woman was much admired in Ireland where she grew up. She eloped with her young man to Scotland where several place names still remember her. My Dierdre is voiced first by the oboe. Legend has it that the young couple were enticed back to Ireland and, against her wishes, they went. As you can tell from the last few moments of the music, it ended badly, but that's what legends are for, to celebrate attractive qualities and caution against rash life choices. Dierdre is almost forgotten in Scotland, but Ireland still remembers this legend.

Dierdre Of The Sorrows

First of the four Torridon 'giants', Beinn Eighe, the mountain of the cry. The origin of the name is lost in history, but this mountain suffered a catastrophic plane crash in 1945. The mountain is formed of a layer of Torridonian Sandstone and a layer of Cambrian quartzite, two of the oldest rocks in the world. Both are represented in the specatcular Triple Buttress , into which the ill-fated plane ploughed.

1. Mountain Of The Cry

The hidden giant of the Torridon four, a wedge of eroded Torridonian sandstone nearly 3000 feet high. Beinn Dearg is slightly hidden by its neighbours. The music proceeds dominated by a pattern of notes, and an insistent "flattened sixth" of the scale. It ends suddenly, just like the mountain.

2. Old Red Sandstone

Beinn Alligin, the third of the Torridon giants, has three pinnacles known as the Horns of Alligin, an ideal cue for a horn trio.

3. The Horns Of Alligin

The fourth Torridon giant is Liathach, a long narrow fin of rock composed of Torridon Sandstone and Cambrian quartzite, which starts steadily, then breaks into pinnacles. This gave rise in the music to a Toccata section, after which a theme from Old Red Sandstone comes in as a fugue to be played at the same time. Following this, firstly the original Queen of Mountains tune and then also a theme from the first movement is played together alongside the toccata. The horn trio makes a reappearance and the suite finishes with ecstatic trills.

4. Queen Of Mountains

I'm still beavering away composing more than ever now my 40-year career as a countryside ranger is over. The places I have lived are the greatest sources of inspiration, and I'm very grateful for the support I've received from a wide range of listeners. In 2017 I moved from the Cairngorms to near Kyle of Lochalsh where I operate as a mountain guide in Skye.

Nic56

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