Robert Nicol - The Desperate Battle (of the birds) (1953) RARE!
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- Опубліковано 22 жов 2024
- Here is an old rare tape recording of the famous Scottish piobaireachd piper (i.e., classical bagpipe music), Robert Nicol (1905 - 1978). Here in this tape recording from 1953 he is first introduced by Robert Lorimer who died in 1996, the man running the tape machine. In this recording he plays the entirety of the piobaireachd, "The Desperate Battle (of the Birds)", as he got it from his teacher, John MacDonald of Inverness (1865 - 1953). At the end, Nicol, Brown and Lorimer go over what they thought of Nicol's playing, after listening to it back on the tape.
Interestingly, while there was no easy way to determine a "pilot frequency" to tune a recording to (it's not that anyone could generate 50 Hz and tune the tape's electrical hum to that 50 Hz), they actually used a tuning fork with the note G4. But, even with my own ears, I still matched the 50 HZ tone of the electricity on the tape to a generated tone of that same frequency, although I well could have used that tuning fork's pitch as a reference. However, I've only heard badly tuned tuning forks so that would not have been my best way to tune the recording anyway. Also, given that this particular tape player on which it was recorded wasn't the best, the odd tape slip can be heard throughout the recording, which is also notable in some of the opera singer Cristina Deutekom's live (video) tape recordings. Particularly at the very beginning of the segment with the pipes, the tape originally slows down to the correct pitch because originally the tape machine had to speed up from 0. Any pitch change when played back is actually inverse to what the actual tape machine did.
Thank you for posting this recording. A beautiful tune played by one of the great masters.
You're welcome. If I ever competed with this tune (never before) I'd definitely play it like he does. In my experience, we all know that rhythmically sheet music has never been perfected and is most misleading. There's an interview of two pipers done in 1953 where their instructor absolutely shunned sheet music. In my opinion, too many pipers and even modern piping judges are willing to accept a totally expressionless, boring, dullly played tune (as if reading straight from sheet music) as "normal". See? Even in my own field of music I'm not happy with what's going on. In the operatic singing world it's much much worse. Fewer and fewer people have good vibratos and most people have bad "wobbles". I'm worried that if nobody will have a good opera voice anymore, people will have to be crazily tolerant and almost auditorily... sadomasochistic? to even survive those stinkiest of wobble vibratos. It's like nobody can ever trill like a bird anymore, nobody can do those fast scales anymore, and how the pieces were meant to be sung is just completely warped to the point where these composers would probably sue these sopranos if they had still been alive. For example Puccini would not be happy if he heard and every-day soprano singing "O Mio Babbino caro" these days because she has a wobble and no portamento slides in her singing.
I am a Piper and I don't play piobreachd music, but I like it. I've heard other players play this tune and I particularly like Seumus MacNeill's version as opposed to Robert Nicole's version, even though I know that RN has the final expert opinion. Thatks for posting.
So where could I look to listen to Seumas MacNeil's version? I can't find it anywhere online, and believe it or not, I don't have a record player!
@@michaelkazmierskidunn7189 I would think it would be available on UA-cam somewhere. I have the Seumus 33 LP record album that contains that piobreachd. If my memory is correct the album only contains piobreachd tunes. The album cover contains a photo of Seumus with his pipes and faux leopard skin bag cover. I haven’t listened to the album in a long time, it’s stored away.
This version is the way I heard it the first time, and was my introduction to Piobaireachd. Most people play a different version but I will always love this one, and this is the one I am referencing as I learn to play it.
That's awesome. So can you tell me where you've heard this recording besides this particular UA-cam? I'm absolutely sure it was not on the "Masters of Piobaireachd" CD, so where did you hear it before.
@@michaelkazmierskidunn7189 I dont know if it was this exact recording. But it was definitely an old recording. The variations were the same as they are here, it had to have been Robert Nicol. It was on a cheap generic bagpipe compilation CD. I'l see if I can find it. it was mostly pipe band recordings but this was on there titled only as "Pibroch", and it only played half the song. There is another recording of Robert Nicols playing this song on youtube and I believe it might be that one that was on the CD
@@JBrooksNYS It was probably The Gordon Highlanders and the track was probably played by Callum Campbell. Campbell (born 1931) was their Pipe Major, and their album was recorded in 1960. The tape pitch on that commercially available album was FAR TOO FLAT so you had your low A's roughly at 450 which was the incorrect pitch. This tape was correct because I used the 50 Hz as the "pilot tone" to tune it to the right pitch.
To be factual there are absolutely no other recordings of Nicol playing this tune that ever existed. Ever.
@@michaelkazmierskidunn7189 Thanks for the info on Callum Campbell... Do you know where I can hear the recording of him playing it? I'd like any recordings of this song played with these particular variations.
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