L.V.Beethoven - Scottish Songs op.108 (full version) 

Lovely concert, thanks so much to those taking part. I have the two CD collection of these Scottish Songs, with songs of Ireland and Wales. (DG - With Felicity Lott, Sir Thomas Allen, Malcom Martinu and others - one of my most played records) There is an almost inexhaustible number of beautiful melodies and airs from the Celtic lands, and Beethoven was mining a rich tradition. The chorus is an unexpected surprise, as I don't think Beethoven composed for a chorus, so perhaps Marco Berrini made suitable arrangements for your choir. I have lightly re-arranged one of Beethovens songs "Ye Shepherds of this Pleasant Vale" which has an air almost identical to the usual setting of Burns' beautiful love song "A Red, Red Rose" , using Burns' words rather than the rather more ordinary words of the original setting. It's so nice to see how these Scottish airs and verses have been transformed so beautifully by Beethoven, and rendered here with such refinement and pleasure. Thanks again, I hope you enjoyed the concert as much as I enjoyed listening. These songs are some of a large number of what would now be called traditional songs of Scotland, Wales and Ireland that Beethoven composed in the period 1810 to 1820, at the height of his composing powers. There had been earlier instances of setting traditional songs to music by European composers, Haydn and Pleyel for instance composed a good number. In this particular instance the Scottish melodies were forwarded to Beethoven by the folk song collector, George Thomson in Edinburgh. For the most part, words were not provided, and Beethoven had to guess at the mood of the pieces. Words were later added using some traditional material, but a large number were set to words by famous Scottish authors and poets, including Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns. The songs include a piano accompaniment with violin and cello obligato, and whilst the majority are for one voice a good number are duets and trios. In one of his letters during the negotiations Beethoven wrote: “P.S. I will also be glad to fulfil your wish to harmonise the little Scottish airs; and in this matter I await a more definite proposal, since it is well known to me that Mr. Haydn was paid one pound sterling for each song. Ludwig van Beethoven” Beethoven was paid sufficiently well for him to continue composing such songs, including some from Spain, Germany, Hungary, Russia and other countries, for many years. I can’t imaging Beethoven pursuing these compositions for the money alone, he must have enjoyed the challenge; they might well have been an enjoyable relaxation for him. However, Thomson didn’t sell as many such arrangements as he would have liked, his intended clients were amateurs of limited skills, and he complained a few times to Beethoven that they were a bit too difficult for his Scottish brethren to play. Beethoven was having none of this, writing to tell Thompson he was not in the habit of revising his compositions, and he was not going to do so here either!

Beautiful production values but you unfortunately failed to engage a singer that could sing intelligible English. The whole point of the settings by. Beethoven, Haydn etc was to serve the poetry. The musical settings are, in themselves, somewhat prosaic.