Alice Allen and Patsy Reid play William Marshall

Greetings, Strathspey Kings and Queens!

Thanks for coming back for more. Strathspey Queens II waves goodbye to the land of Scott Skinner (1843 - 1927) as we travel back in time to visit the work of another great Scottish composer – William Marshall.

The original Strathspey Queens was inspired by Skinner’s own London recording of 1922 and informed our choice of the tunes and sets we recorded. Without an aural resource for Marshall (1748 - 1833), we set about compiling our own selection of melodies and basslines that most captured our imagination.

There is huge artistic variety in Marshall’s writing; the keys, the basslines, the character, the emotion. He was a master tunes-smith and an expert in many specialisms out with music. His genius is not only reflected in the power of his melodies but by the equally deft craftmanship of the accompanying basslines. They serve the tunes, cleverly enhancing whilst never obscuring. Sometimes the tessitura of the bass deliberately matches that of the melodies and in other magic moments, the bassline beds into the lowest earthiest frequencies of the cello with powerful octaves, the tune soaring blissfully above it.