Erik Chisholm is a Scottish-born composer and friend of Bartók whose music has experienced a substantial revival. It's not quite correct to call him a Scottish composer, for the last two decades of his life were spent outside Scotland (mostly in South Africa), and Scottish nationalism is only one of the unique mix of influences in his music. It's not that he's "eclectic" in the modern sense. Chisholm grafted a wide variety of new musical experiences onto a basic core that draws on Stravinsky, Bartók, and perhaps Benjamin ...
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Erik Chisholm is a Scottish-born composer and friend of Bartók whose music has experienced a substantial revival. It's not quite correct to call him a Scottish composer, for the last two decades of his life were spent outside Scotland (mostly in South Africa), and Scottish nationalism is only one of the unique mix of influences in his music. It's not that he's "eclectic" in the modern sense. Chisholm grafted a wide variety of new musical experiences onto a basic core that draws on Stravinsky, Bartók, and perhaps Benjamin Britten without aping any of them. This said, the Piano Concerto No. 1 ("Piobaireachd"), whose subtitle means "pipe music," is heavily Scottish in flavor. The work was begun as early as 1932 and appeared in 1938. The introduction to the first movement strongly evokes bagpipes, and the other movements all have Scottish references, even more specific in the case of the slow movement variations based on the 18th-century Lament for Donald Bŕn MacCrimmon. Yet the music never falls into...
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