Duncan Chisholm at Woodend Barn
Duncan Chisholm is a Scottish fiddle player heralding from the Highlands near Inverness. His music blends contemporary and trad elements, and expresses an intensely personal relationship with the North West Highlands. His most recent trio of studio albums, collectively called The Strathglass Trilogy, is one of my favourite musical pieces to listen to when out wild camping. After missing opportunities over the last couple of years I finally got around to seeing Duncan play at Woodend Barn just outside Banchory.
Supported by guitarist Matheu Watson and multi-instrumentalist Jarlath Henderson, Chisholm played for a good couple of hours taking a short break at the halfway point. Despite arriving quite late I managed to get a front row seat and enjoyed an excellent view of the performance which focussed mainly on the Strathglass albums, with many of the songs taken from Affric, the third in the series.
The music was, as expected, simply wonderful and being so close brought about an added dimensions and appreciation for the construction of these songs. I have no experience with the fiddle but the range of sounds, from percussive to hauntingly melodic, that Chisholm draws out of it is simply stunning. Watson and Henderson provided perfect backing to the fiddle work and overall the night easily surpassed my high expectations.
