An Buachaille


Savourna Stevenson playing An Buachaille ( The Herdsman ), one of her virtuosic pieces specially written for the small / lever harp. She recorded this on her CD ‘Calman the Dove’ which also has several great tracks with Davy Spillane on uillean pipes and low whistle.


Calman The Dove

The Scotsman

SAVOURNA STEVENSON
Calman the Dove
Cooking Vinyl, *****

Specially commissioned, for performance in Iona Abbey, to commemorate the St Columba anniversary, Savourna Stevenson has delivered a musical gem that features not only her fluent, jazz-tinged harp but also the moody whistle and stunning uillean pipes of Davy Spillane and the edgy, gipsy-like fiddle of Anne Wood.
The thrilling bustle of the opening track, Calman the Wolf, with Spillane pouring out notes, gives way to the slow mesmeric beauty of The White Swan – a lovely track – and then some sparkling solo harp in An Buachaille before the three musicians settle into a sustained exploration of Stevenson’s varied themes, spattered with spicy Charlie Parkerish chord changes. Delightful stuff.