Description
An outstanding collection, which showcases brilliantly the work of this talented fiddler/composer. Gleaned mainly from Paul's solo albums released between 1993 & 2004 including a couple of songs from Jim Reid and a set with Aberdeen rock band Pallas!
Already something of a legend and revered virtuoso in the time honoured tradition of Scottish fiddle music, Paul Anderson began his training while at school on a fiddle found under his grandparents spare bed. He can trace his teaching lineage directly to Niel Gow, through his tutor Douglas Lawrence, the most acclaimed pupil of Hector MacAndrew. Hector was taught by his grandfather who was taught by the last pupil of Gow.
Paul's experience includes leadership of the Banchory Strathspey and Reel Society and playing fiddle with Shetland folk rock band, 'Rock, Salt and Nails'. His main interest, however, is solo performance and composition of fiddle music in the Scottish traditional music style. Paul has won most of the fiddle championships in Scotland, his crowning glory was winning the Glenfiddich Scottish Fiddle Championship at Blair Castle in 1993. A regular on Scottish television and radio, Paul has toured extensively and has recorded 7 solo albums. Although only in his early thirty's, Paul is already something of an icon in Scotland, a fact duly recognised by two specially commissioned portraits of him, a life size one in Aberdeen Art Gallery and a study that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. In the tradition of many of Scotland's great fiddlers, Paul is also a composer of some repute, having written around 200 pieces in the traditional style, 100 of which are already published in `The Cromar Collection'. His new book — `The Lochnagar Collection' — is published in August 2009 to coincide with the release of this album.
This compilation has been gleaned mainly from Paul's solo albums released between 1993 and 2004 and is a selection of Paul's very own favourites. There is a mixture of classic Scots fiddle repertoire, his own compositions, accompaniment to the fine voice of the late, great Jim Reid and even one track with the Aberdonian rock band PaIlas. The session musicians who joined Paul on the various albums are many, varied and hugely talented, including George Donald (piano), Margaret Smith (piano), Tony McManus (guitar) and Ali Napier (keyboards).
The Duke Of Fife; The Mighty Norman Anderson; J.F.Dickie; Hungarian Dance; Heather And Eilidh; The Bloody Field Of Culloden; Ghost Dancers (Pallas with Paul Anderson); A Waltz For Alice; The Favourite Dram; Beeswing; Ossian; Beinn Dhubh; Lament For MacCrimmon; Balvenie; By The Mountain Streams; Drummond Castle; Gight Castle; The Black Velvet Band; Fingal's Cave; The Pass Of Ballater; Orange Blossom Special; Luskentyre.
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