The Rake's Progress:

New Adventures In Folk Music

CD Reviews:

ALASDAIR FRASER/ NATALIE HAAS-Fire & Grace- Culburnie

Alasdair Fraser is one of Scotland’s leading exponents of the fiddle, renowned for both his solo work and his collaborations, particularly with Tony McManus on the evocative ‘Return To Kintail’. For ‘Fir & Grace’, he teams with cellist Natalie Haas, to make a folk record that is distinctly classical in feel. Unlike the usual guitar-based chordal accompaniments, Haas uses a mixture of ground bass, implied chords and counterpoint to underscore Fraser’s excursions on such traditional material as ‘St ‘Kilda Wadding’ and ‘The Shetland Set’. It’s an unusual and attractive sound, austere at times perhaps, but light years ahead of the standard session style. For anyone interested in Scots fiddle styles, this is a master class recording.