Just added to the revised Piping Press Audio Archive is the second half of a radio broadcast given by the great Donald MacPherson in 1972. A master of both ceòl beag and ceòl mòr, Donald was probably the best competitive piper of all time with a record of success in both disciplines which is unlikely to be beaten.
The broadcast is given added interest in that it is introduced by Donald himself, the ‘Executive Director of the College of Piping’ as the BBC announcer has him. In this recording he starts with the melodic 6/8 march Mrs MacDougall.A March, Strathspey and Reel, John MacFadyen opf Melfort, Caledonian Canal and Alick C MacGregor follows.
Before moving on to piobaireachd we hear what Donald calls the first ever broadcast of his self-penned jig, Donnie MacGregor. Donald says that he often played the tune at home with himself on the piano and his daughter on accordion.
He then continues with the piobaireachd, Salute on the Birth of Rory Mor MacLeod, the Lament for Donald Dughal MacKay (praising the performance of it he heard at Newtonmore Games by Donald MacGillivray, Nigg), and finishes with part of the Lament for the Children, a tune he says reduced him to tears when playing it at Glenfinnan. Check out this historic broadcast and the other tunes in the PP archive here.
Over the weekend we featured the tragic story of the 200 US sailors who lost their lives off the coast of Newfoundland during WW2. Maritimes piper Barry Shears has composed a new piobaireachd to commemorate the event and kindly shared the music with the PP readership. Read the full story here.
Now he has forwarded an audio recording played on the elctronic chanter. Barry hopes to record the tune on the pipes in due course and we hope he will forward that to us too.
Here is his recording:
