The Sounds and Songs of Auld Lang Syne

Gladsmuir Parish Church, Gladsmuir, 5/9/2025

Mhairi Lawson (soprano), Lorna Anderson (soprano), Jan Waterfield (fortepiano)

The afternoon recital of 5th September at this year’s Lammermuir Festival enjoyed the congenial intimate ambience of Gladsmuir’s Parish Church, in a lecture/recital given by sopranos Mhairi Lawson and  Lorna Anderson, with forte-pianist Jan Waterfield titled ‘The Sounds and Songs of Auld Lang Syne’.  The specific ‘lang syne’ in question was the 18th and early 19th century ‘Age of Enlightenment’.  All three musicians are renowned as both performers and educators, with particularly interest and expertise in Baroque repertoire and performance practice.  Mhairi has a research interest in the vocal pedagogy of Italian musician Domenico Corri, an expert in the Neapolitan style, who moved in 1771 from the Roman apartments of Prince Charles Edward Stuart to Edinburgh, where he and his celebrated soprano wife Francesca performed for and with the Edinburgh Musical Society, whose members included the Duke of Buccleuch and the famous economist Adam Smith. The concert was in two ‘acts’.  The first half was devoted to Corri’s influence on Scottish musical tastes and practices at the Edinburgh Music Society.  The second half widened the net to encompass the international element of the interchange between Scottish culture and the music of the early Classical period.  Between the musical items, all three performers took turns to deliver a thread of informative historical explanatory narrative.  Three different versions of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ were performed in the course of the recital.

The concert opened with Mhairi singing a 1733 version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ from William Thomson’s ‘Orpheus Caledonius’, itself derived from an earlier collection by Allan Ramsay, with excellent clarity of diction.  Lorna spoke about the history of Edinburgh Musical Society and St Cecilia’s Hall, before Mhairi sang ‘The Broom of Cowdenknowes’ from the same collection, with lovely ornamentation in the second verse.  Lorna read glowing contemporary accounts of Francesca Corri’s Edinburgh performances, after which Jan accompanied Mhairi in two Domenico Corri 1782 editions of operatic arias, Handel’s ‘Dove sei?’ from ‘Rodelinda’ and Gluck’s ‘Che faro senza Eurydice?’ from ‘Orfeo ed Eurydice’, with exquisite shaping of notes and phrases and sensitive pianism.  I cannot imagine better.  The very lovely melody of Scottish traditional song ‘Lochaber’ followed, in another 1782 Corri setting.  The first half concluded with all three musicians in two accompanied duets performed in segue, both Corri editions with delicious harmonies.  Tommaso Giordani’s setting of ‘Queen Mary’s Lamentation’ features a pleasing ‘Scotch snap’ in the accompaniment and a dramatic rallentando and a cappella bit at the end.  Corri’s own ‘Solitario’ was idiomatically and satisfyingly Italianate.

Leaving nothing to chance, the fortepiano was tuned in the interval – major ‘brownie points’.  Another version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, not as well-known as the universal modern version (but attributed to Burns in Volume 4 of ‘The Scots Musical Museum’ of 1792  - and familiar to me as I have sung it in a choral arrangement with Clackmannanshire Choral Society) was another sweet duet.  Two more Corri arrangements followed, this time of Mozart.  First up, a duet arrangement of ‘Ah perdona’, sung in English as ‘Idle Boy’, from ‘La clemenza di Tito’, was gorgeous.  It was followed by Mhairi in ‘Voi che sapete’ from ‘Le nozze di Figaro’, an 1802 arrangement emphasising sweetness over adolescent yearning.  A pair of 1810 Corri English editions of Haydn canzonettas with keyboard introductions followed.  ‘She never told her love’ was sad and gentle.  ‘The Mermaid’s Song’ was delightfully light and prefigured Gilbert & Sullivan mischief.  A pair of Haydn’s own arrangements of Scottish traditional songs opened with a very different duet version of ‘The Broom of Cowdenknowes’, with alternating solo verses and duet choruses.  ‘Green grow the rashes’ was similar, but with audience participation in the choruses, words and music provided in the printed programmes (my perennial gripe about inadequate lighting and small print demanding to be aired again).  The concert concluded, perhaps inevitably with a Corri arrangement of the familiar ubiquitous modern version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, with audience participation in the choruses.  Sweet.

There is something magical about experiencing consummate artistry in a relaxed and genial, almost casual, atmosphere.  A definite festival highlight for me.