biography for dates of gigs/teaching etc news recordings tunes and sounds for download press pack and image gallery contact me

New Fine Friday Album released

Item posted: Sunday 1st May , 2005

We released our new album: Mowing the Machair at Sandy Bells pub in Edinburgh - our birthplace so to speak. It's our second CD and is available through many good record stores and our record company's website: www.footstompin.com

Track list
1. Chi Cha
2. When First I Came To Caledonia
3. The Tide Full In
4. Mowing the Machair
5. Gin I Were A Barron's Air
6. Two Jigs
7. Ta Se In Am Domsa Eiri
8. Simon's
9. Lisa Giles
10. Waltzes
11. The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh
12. Hornpipes

Fine Friday are an enormously talented trio of Scottish and Irish traditional musicians featuring Anna Wendy Stevenson, Nuala Kennedy and Kris Drever. With exquisitely articulated fiddle, percussive accented flute, guitar wizardry and choice vocal harmonies. In this their second album for Foot Stompin' they are on fine form with imaginative arrangements and their usual high standard of execution. Nuala shows herself to be a charming singer but Kris Drever displays why he is considered one of the most impressive voices on the Scottish music scene with his versions of old favourites When First I Came To Caledonia and The Bleacher Lassie.

Thistle and Shamrock


It's Tuesday morning and when I'm not on tour I wake up in Birnam in Perthshire after the Monday evening session which I lead at the Birnam Hotel's bar -- the Tap. It's a beautiful location and a fantastic spot for a session with a bit of sightseeing to boot. Since Fine Friday's mega tour of Australia last year, the Monday session with overnight B and B is part of the experience for many antipodean friends who have come to visit.
Birnam and the surrounding area is home to many musicians of repute and the base for the pipe makers Hamish and Fin Moore. Last September Hamish asked me to run the Monday night session in the pub and come up with any musicians from Edinburgh. Of an evening we'll be joined by Hamish on the fiddle, Fin and Duncan on the pipes. The local singing group often turns up as well as a whole host of other musicians passing through.
The majority of the bar staff are fantastic musicians from Ireland and the MacKenzie boys from Cape Breton keep the bar's piano in shape. What's great about this session is there's a piano (in tune), plenty of space, no smoking and a wooden floor perfect for our step-dance outbursts.
Since we first started this session in September last year this place has been gradually building up so that now every Monday is starting to feel like a festival. Last night was no exception. You know when you play and the tunes that you didn't know that you knew keep coming -- and the ones you thought you had forgotten or even ones that you are just writing come to you even before you've finished the last -- you daren't stop -- even for the toilet -- well that was last night. The session went on into the early hours in the residents' lounge and we only hit the sack when we heard breakfast kitchens opening up. It's a joy. And a joy to be able to share these times with overseas friends.
Last night I brought Greg from Yackandandah, Australia to the Birnam session. Greg's a bazouki playing hand surgeon who was on the festival committee for the Yackandandah Festival 2003. When I booked that gig over the internet I couldn't believe that such a place name existed. It gets called Yack for short.
When Fine Friday recorded our first album, Gone Dancing, I had already done quite a bit of touring in the U.S. and Europe with a band called Anam. Australia felt as yet unconquered. I sent out loads of CDs and emails to prospective agents to no avail. So I typed www.google.com then

Balamory Star

Recording with Ronald Stevenson

The album features Ronald's "South Uist Folk Song Suite" deditcated to the late Margaret Fay Shaw, a symphonic poem version of "Jock of Hazeldean" and "Ae Gowden Lyric" as well as a couple of classical pieces composed by Ronald: The Nocturne in F and the Recitative and Air based on DSCH. "I grew up playing many of these pieces with grandad and it's just so special to have recorded the music that we have played together for so long" We played much of this music as part of a concert in Dunkeld's Niel Gow Festival in March. When the album is released you will be able to purchase it here and we shall be organising a few afternoon concerts around Scotland to mark the occasion.

Anna-Wendy heads to North Carolina

Anna-Wendy has been invited to teach at the Swanannoa Gathering in North Carolina, USA. She will be teaching both the Celtic week 10th to 16th July and the Fiddle Week 24th July to 30th July.

Concert with Ronald Stevenson & Anna Wendy Stevenson

As part of the Niel Gow Festival in Dunkeld we are giving a recital of my grandfather's arrangements of some traditional Scottish melodies and waulking songs for violin and piano. These are interesting and beautiful settings and ones that we have played together sometime and have also just recorded for a forth-coming CD.

This concert is being held on the banks of the Tay in the Dunkeld Hilton Sunday 20th March 5 - 6pm and is to be an hour in duration. We'd be delighted to see you and share a refreshment afterwards. Why not make an afternoon of it and go for a pre concert walk along the river! (that's our plan)

For anyone who needs directions - Dunkeld is 14 miles north of perth off the A9. The Hilton is signposted at the end of the mainstreet on the left. There is a short drive along a track to get to the hotel.

It would be great if you could forward this to anyone you think may be interested.

Info on grandad:
www.ronaldstevensonsociety.org.uk/index.asp

The festival website is:
www.musicinscotland.com/Niel_Gow/2005_Niel_Gow_Festival.htm

Album with James Ross

Celtic Connections Commission

Greetings from North Carolina

I'm in North Carolina and I'm having an amazing time. I'm glad I don't wear specs caus It's so hot and steamy here.

I arrived after a 25 hour journey to a botanical glass house environment on one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. The people here are simply wonderful, around 300 participants, constant sessions under trees, dances, lectures. My classes are wonderful and I'm loving the teaching. The university is based around a farm and on day one Margaret Bennet gave me a tour on her little golf buggy. We went down to see the pigs and their piglets. So cute. Margaret's friend Lisa also drove us 2 hours to grandfather mountain to the most wierd and wonderful Highland Games. Amazing. Glad I brought my video camera. Bumped into Mary-Anne Kennedy and Jamie Le Val.. as one does. The world is getting even smaller.

I am giving a lecture tomorrow on my grandfather and his settings of traditional Scottish song. I'm looking forward to it. Yesterday I went to Ed Miller's lecture on Scotland in Pictures and song. Was great. Billy Jackson is here too and Jack Beck. Played a concert here last night with Jack Beck on lovely guitar and my lovely new friend Kathleen from Rhode Island on whistle and Jack's Wife Wendy with song. it was a lovely evening and a highlight was Jerry Holland's Tears air played by the man himself. Massive storm last night - but I don't know if that was Dennis or if he's still to come.... I'll be back with more news .....

Fiddle Week at Swannanoa

I celebrated the end of Swannanoa gathering with a visit to the Cherokee Casino and gambled big style -with my new fiddling friend and Scottish music convert - Bob. Then we drove around the Blue Ridge parkway through the misty mountains. I found out that this area is subtropical - ~I thought so. The fiddle week was wonderful and different to the Celtic week. It kicked off with John Daly, Calum Mackinnon and myself playing lots of slow airs and Tom Anderson Tunes. Wow John Daly is a real Tom Anderson officianado . We had a great time sitting on the grass in the moonlight with crowds gathering, people occasionally joining in or taping or videoing us all to the soundtrack of very noisy sicadas and the smell of barbeque and beer. There were a lot of swing, old time and blue grass as well as Irish and guitar and contemporary folk classes. Loads to take in and lots to Jam with. On Tuesday I played a set with fantastic guitarist Robin Bullock and we went down really well. Pity I had sold out of cds during Celtic week. There were amazing performances from Bobby Hicks and Buddy Spiker as well as John Daly and Maeve Donnelly. I joined Calum Mackinnon for a harmony on his beautiful rendition of Lament for the death of Archie Beaton. Great tunes with the old time boys - James Leva and Raiff Stephanini. My fiddle varnish started melting during the week with the heat and I developed a bad rash on my neck which is how I met Bob Christmas, the swing playing doctor who I managed to convert to Scottish. Jerry Holland reckons that my fiddle and his are related - they are both Austrian and old and look identical. On the last day Calum and his class came into mine and performed a new tune that Calum had written the night before -

Review of Neil Gow Festival concert from Jamie Jauncey

Between the ages of ten and eighteen, Anna-Wendy Stevenson went every weekend to visit her grandfather, the pianist, composer and music scholar, Ronald Stevenson. She took her violin and every weekend they played together.

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in March 2005, nearly twenty-five years after the start of that special relationship, it finally bore fruit in a recital at the Dunkeld Hilton on the banks of the Tay, as part of Pete Clark's second Niel Gow Festival.

For an enchanting and intimate hour, the audience eavesdropped on a grandfather and granddaughter playing through a well-loved repertoire together - an event possibly unprecedented since the time of Bach, as Ronald joked.

The theme was the Scots tradition of song, poetry and tune, a major source of inspiration for Ronald Stevenson throughout his long career, and one to which Anna-Wendy returned eight years ago after swapping her early career as a classical pianist for that of traditional fiddle player.

From the music of Gow himself and his near contemporary Robert MacIntosh, through the folksongs of South Uist, to the poetry of Hugh MacDiarmid (Ae Gowden Lyric), Ronald's arrangements and original compositions were alternately humorous and playful, impassioned and lyrical. These moods were perfectly echoed by Anna-Wendy's beautifully articulated and sensitive playing.

The South Uist Folksong Suite which Ronald dedicated to Margaret Fay Shaw, the folklorist and song collector who died only last year, was particularly entertaining. Describing themes from island life such as spinning, waulking (preparing the wool) and witching the cows for milking, his whimsical accompaniments were constructed entirely from phrases of the melody played out of sequence to give the pieces an almost Escher-like sense of perspective.

He also gave a solo recital of Grieg's , to show how at any time traditional tunes and songs can make their way into the most sophisticated contemporary compositions. Here the accompanist became the virtuoso and we were given a brief glimpse of the full breadth and power of Ronald's playing.

At the piano Ronald beamed and twinkled with pride as Anna-Wendy coaxed ripples of magic from her fiddle, and directly across the river on the opposite bank, the ghost of Gow doubtless shed a silent tear beneath his favourite tree.

Jamie Jauncey
31 March 2005


Anna-Wendy heads to North Carolina

Anna-Wendy has been invited to teach at the Swanannoa Gathering in North Carolina, USA. She will be teaching both the Celtic week 10th to 16th July and the Fiddle Week 24th July to 30th July.

Some lecture notes about grandad's music

I

Review of album "Gowd and Silver"

Customer Reviews

Real Gold
(Simon T 17/08/2005)
I've just listened to this CD properly and it is fantastic. I heard it in my car last night and enjoyed it and when I put it on my home stereo this morning the recording really stood out as amazing.

The playing is fantastic, the arrangements beautiful and recorded sound crystal clear. I would recommend this CD wholeheartedly to anyone.

Scotsman review - 7/9/05 by Jim Gilchrist

new generation of fiddle music bridges the age gap

JIM GILCHRIST

WHAT'S a 45-year age gap between musicians? One of the most engaging Scottish music recordings to appear for some time has just been released by the distinguished composer and concert pianist Ronald Stevenson and his granddaughter, Anna-Wendy Stevenson, well known on the Scottish folk scene as a fiddler with groups such as Fine Friday and Calluna.

Gowd & Silver, featuring the 77-year-old Stevenson's compositions and settings of Scots tunes, may sound like a stretch across the cultural divide - family ties apart, what might a musician whose best-known works include a violin concerto commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin or a Passacaglia dedicated to Shostakovich have in common with a tradition-fuelled fiddler? In fact, the recording is the natural culmination of decades of playing together and a cross-generational love of traditional music within a musical dynasty which also includes Ronald's daughters, the harpist Savourna and the actress and singer Gerda. The album, which exudes artistry, affection and soul, has been issued by Eclectic Records, run by Wendy's father, the Edinburgh violin-maker Gordon Stevenson, whose idea the project was.

There was nothing intimidating about venturing into a studio with such a distinguished musical figure, albeit her grandfather, says Wendy, 32, recently returned from teaching fiddle in North Colorado. "As a child, I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house in West Linton and from an early age he was teaching me piano, then I started on violin and he would make arrangements of everything I was doing - Fritz Kreisler and Scottish melodies."

A lot of this has found its way on to the CD, including Stevenson's own beautiful Ae Gowden Lyric, which he originally wrote as a song setting of the poem by his old friend, Hugh MacDiarmid.

The album also features his settings of several traditional Strathspeys and airs but, as Wendy points out, the last two tracks in particular may make traditionalists sit up, as they are purely modern classical, being her grandfather's Recitative and Air, derived from the mighty Passacaglia he dedicated to Shostakovich and a nocturne he composed when he was 24.

Such breadth of material utilises Wendy's classical violin training - at one point she led the orchestra at a Texas University and, in one notable interlude, played in a local orchestra backing jazz crooner Tony Bennett. "But I was studying anthropology and that made me want to find out more about traditional music from where I came from."

She returned to Edinburgh and did a masters in social anthropology on authenticity and identity in Scottish traditional music, while industriously researching that authenticity, not to mention virtually re-learning her playing techniques, in pub music sessions. Following some playing with her harpist aunt, Savourna, she ended up touring internationally with the band Anam, while more recently she's played with the trios Fine Friday and Calluna, as well as with the ceilidh band Bella McNab's. Then there was a spell of duty as a fiddler in a certain popular children's TV series based in Tobermory.

While she has another more traditional album at the mixing stage with pianist James Ross, she agrees that Gowd & Silver has brought her full circle.

Between them, she and her grandfather embrace the broadest of all musical worlds. Wendy can recall being in a Motherwell pub with her father and Sir Yehudi Menuhin, during the run-up to the Glasgow premiere of Ronald's mighty violin concerto, The Gypsy, commissioned and conducted by Menuhin, who regarded Stevenson as "one of the most original minds" in the world of composition. She recalls the great violinist-conductor, oblivious to the smoke and TV football, unconcernedly yoga-stretching on a pub table, then partaking of Guinness and fish and chips.

Originally brought up in Lancashire, Ronald traces his lifelong interest in Scottish music back to his father, who was from Kilmarnock and "sang Scottish and Irish songs. He was too shy to sing in public, although he had a lovely tenor voice."

While Ronald has played on every continent, his first "grand tour", as he puts it, was at his Majesty's Pleasure during the late 1940s, when he was serving time as a conscientious objector. While behind bars he composed a prelude dedicated to Finland's grand old man of music, and dispatched it, addressed to "Jean Sibelius, Finland". The elderly composer received it and wrote back with thanks.

He describes himself as "thrilled and honoured" to have recorded with his granddaughter: "Not many families now have this sort of musical connection, though it used to be the case that whole families would be musical." And he cites one of the album tracks, John Gow's Compliments to the Minstrels of Scotland, written by a son of the famous 18th-century fiddler Niel Gow: "The Gows were known, of course, as folk musicians, but that is really a piece of classical music. And incidentally... the Gows had a music publishing shop in Princes Street, and they published Beethoven."

Cross-genre creativity, it seems, can run in the family, as well as in the tradition.

Review of Concert with Anna-Wendy and Ronald - Sue Wilson, The Scotsman

Scotsman 29th November 2005

Music:
Ronald and Anna-wendy Stevenson
St. Cecilia

Review of My Edinburgh by Rob Adams

There's been something of a Stevenson invasion this weekend at Celtic Connections, with Anna Wendy following her aunt Savourna in premiering a new work.
This one stayed close to home, being a portrayal in music, slides and recorded voices of Stevenson Jr's home town, Edinburgh, and without breaking new ground to any great extent, it achieved what it set out to do with skilful evocations of locations from the airy harbour setting of Newhaven to the bustling folk music sessions of Sandy Bell's.
Employing an octet comprising fiddles, viola, cello, mandolin, soprano saxophone, piano and percussion and compositional abilities that are clearly in the genes, Stevenson matched pictures of the New Town with a suitably trig melody and introduced darkness, drama and a certain agitation as images of the closes where Burke & Hare plied their wicked trade were projected behind the musicians.
This was music that clearly drew on the Scottish tradition but had a freshness about it and was played with care and attention by all the musicians, the drive of cello and mandolin lending vigour to the up-tempo sequences and Fraser Fifield's saxophone particularly bringing out the atmosphere and character of Stevenson's music.
As an advertisement for Newcastle University's traditional music course, the Young Tradition concert that followed immediately afterwards in the Piping Centre couldn't have been bettered. Rather than current students, course leader Kathryn Tickell brought a quartet of recent graduates (plus her brother Peter) who played with a vigour and technical ease that speak volumes for the quality of tuition they received and despite apparently being hastily reconvened, they gave a professional standard presentation that wouldn't have been out of place on a more prestigious stage.























Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

There's been something of a Stevenson invasion this weekend at Celtic Connections, with Anna Wendy following her aunt Savourna in premiering a new work.
This one stayed close to home, being a portrayal in music, slides and recorded voices of Stevenson Jr's home town, Edinburgh, and without breaking new ground to any great extent, it achieved what it set out to do with skilful evocations of locations from the airy harbour setting of Newhaven to the bustling folk music sessions of Sandy Bell's.
Employing an octet comprising fiddles, viola, cello, mandolin, soprano saxophone, piano and percussion and compositional abilities that are clearly in the genes, Stevenson matched pictures of the New Town with a suitably trig melody and introduced darkness, drama and a certain agitation as images of the closes where Burke & Hare plied their wicked trade were projected behind the musicians.
This was music that clearly drew on the Scottish tradition but had a freshness about it and was played with care and attention by all the musicians, the drive of cello and mandolin lending vigour to the up-tempo sequences and Fraser Fifield's saxophone particularly bringing out the atmosphere and character of Stevenson's music.

My Edinburgh Scotsman review

New voices: Anna Wendy Stevenson
MUSIC REVIEW

NEW VOICES: ANNA WENDY STEVENSON ***
GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL

ANNA Wendy Stevenson's New Voices commission provided a sharp contrast with Martin Green's effort of the opening weekend. Where Green pushed out into relentlessly experimental territory, Stevenson chose to work within much more conventional parameters, and produced a charming and beautifully constructed homage to Edinburgh.




The fiddler's attractive melodies animated her series of portraits of Edinburgh life and landmarks, from Arthur's Seat to the New Town and Newhaven, the exploits of Burke and Hare to the folk sessions in Sandy Bell's bar.

Several of the pieces were accompanied by recorded oral reminiscences which Stevenson had recorded from a variety of people, and a series of picturesque photographs of the city were projected on a large screen behind the players.

Her tunes were cleverly arranged for an eight-piece band

and her evocations of the capital were nicely varied, conjuring up a series of shifting moods and impressions.

Fiddle-On Magazine Feature by Mark Morpurgo

NEW VOICES AT CELTIC CONNECTIONS
Colin Hynd, Festival Director of Celtic Connections explains what the New Voices commissions are all about:

Footstompin review of Anna-Wendy Stevenson

BEAUTIFUL FIDDLING!! Anna-Wendy Stevenson - This is a lovely CD featuring Scots
fiddler Anna-Wendy Stevenson with piano accompaniment from James Ross. Much of
the material is traditional but there are also some notable self-penned
compositions - for example Midsummer Star a tender tune written for her father.
With her gorgeous tone, execution and feeling for the music she brings a wealth
of understanding to the old tunes as, for example in her touchingly beautiful
version of the after Culloden tune, Hard Is My Fate.

Evaluations from Swannanoa Gathering

Anna-Wendy Stevenson

Intermediate Scottish Fiddle
• I’ve always loved Scottish and Celtic music in general, so I really enjoyed this class. Anna-Wendy did a great job of teaching us all. I feel that I’ll actually be able to use not just he tune but the techniques and ornamentations in my musical life.
• Very good – I really like her playing. I could only attend the second half of her class. Scottish will be my next venture. PLEASE GET HER BACK.
• Excellent. I can’t say enough about this teacher. Great handouts, very patient, excellent musicality, interesting discussion of music and how it integrated with Scottish culture.
• Awesome class! Wonderful teacher. Everyone fell madly in lover with her! Please bring her back next year. She really was fabulous with the many different levels in her classroom.
• Very positive. Anna-Wendy is an effective instructor and talented player.

biog

Anna-Wendy's distinctive sound is a product of classical expertise and traditional passion. These two strengths have opened many doors to Anna-Wendy both as an orchestral player and as an internationally traveled

Anna-Wendy Joins a boy band

Jock Tamson's Bairns are a band that have been a source of inspiration to many a musician who is interested in lively honest and 'rare' arrangements of Scottish music and song. The band have received 5 star reviews from national newspapers for their albums and have represented Scotland in performances and tours the world over. Anna-Wendy's debut gig with them will be at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh 31st March. The first half of this concert will be another opportunity to hear and see Anna-Wendy's highly successful New Voices Celtic Connections Commission; My Edinburgh. Start 7.30pm Tickets from

Waterbabes with Mike Scott

This was a very exciting project Anna-Wendy was involved in. In December Mike approached her after seeing a TV appearance featuring her fiddling and Nuala Kennedy's flute playing. Both girls joined Mike in a set at the World Peace Concert at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh on the 18th Feb. "Mike was really great to work with. We came up with an arrangement for a beautiful new song of his called the Rosy Cross and premiered it at this festival.

Burns in Birnam

This project grew out of the wonderful music that came out of the Birnam Tap Inn sessions which Anna-Wendy founded in 2003. Local writer and pianist Jamie Jauncey, Luke Plumb and Angus Grant - (Shooglenifty) join her in this exciting venture. It's music that just won't leave your head. As grandad says: "the sign of a good melody is one which enters the ear with ease and leave the memory with difficulty". Watch out for the album.

Review Queen's Hall My Edinburgh!!


Ceilidh Culture Opening Concert

SUE WILSON

QUEEN'S HALL, EDINBURGH


LAUNCHING Edinburgh's annual spring programme of traditional arts activity, Friday's concert was themed, aptly, around the Scottish capital itself. The first half featured fiddler Anna-Wendy Stevenson's suite My Edinburgh, premiered at this year's Celtic Connections and performed by an eight-piece ensemble comprising string quartet, piano, saxophone, mandolin/bouzouki and percussion.



The piece also incorporated spoken-word recordings among the tunes, recalling diverse aspects of Edinburgh's history and folk culture, complemented by a slide-show backdrop.

While the music was largely rooted in traditional forms, its expansive compass and artful arrangements created a succession of contrastingly atmospheric snapshots, variously conjuring the stately beauty of the city's architecture, the shadowy past of its Old Town closes and the effervescent conviviality of a Sandy Bell's session.

After the interval, Stevenson joined Jock Tamson's Bairns, Billy Kay and Siobhan Miller for a part-reprise of Fergusson's Auld Reikie. Another words-and-music celebration of Edinburgh, this one centred on the poet Robert Fergusson's descriptions of the city during its 18th-century heyday, interwoven with traditional tunes and songs, the latter including a lovely unaccompanied rendition of Mary Mild, from Miller.
There were also a few contemporary numbers to bring the story up to date, including Rod Paterson's impishly catchy Auld Town Shuffle and the New Town Stride. Despite the performers' calibre, however, the evening was notably short on any real sense of occasion, or ambition. The programme was largely recycled from other sources; a barely-adequate PA resulted in often thin sound quality, and attendance was poor - all reflecting the fact that Ceilidh Culture, purportedly Edinburgh's flagship folk event, is essentially a branding strategy that ill conceals the capital's lack of a properly resourced festival in this field.

Review in Glasgow Herald of Ceilidh Culture opening concert

Stenches, wenches, fishwives, cadgers, kings and vintners

Review in the Scotsman 25th January 2007

Anna Wendy Stevenson
MUSIC
JAN FAIRLEY

ANNA WENDY STEVENSON
****
TRON THEATRE, GLASGOW

ANNA Wendy Stevenson's My Edinburgh is a glorious set of musical postcards to her home city, rooted in inspired folk-sessions at Sandy Bell's, the renowned folk music pub.

Her fine octet of musicians on strings, brass, percussion and piano performed sprightly tunes as if engrossed in lively conversation, imbuing the music with the experiences of those who live in the city.

Juxtaposing spirited music with poetry and local voices, the whole was melded together by huge shifting backdrop images of everything from gleaming wet cobbles to Christmas on the Mound to an aerial view of the New Town in winter.

Stevenson's thrilling achievement is to have created evocative moving pictures in sound that simultaneously embrace the past and the present.

Constantly grounding the personal in the city's architecture, geography and geology, one minute we're with percussionist and ceilidh caller, Colin MacLennan, watching the sun set from Newhaven harbour wall; the next we're on "smelly" Grove Street with Freddie Thompson, host of innumerable sessions at Bell's.

Stevenson and her group were blown in by Force Ten, four youthful, self-confessed "teuchter" winners of last year's Danny Kyle's Open Stage competition, who displayed a coolly modern take on traditional music.



folk roots reviw march 2007

Here it is in full: Fine debut album from well-travelled Scottish fiddler (Anam, Calluna, Fine Friday), with help from James Ross and a few friends. A lovely tone, and touch, and she plays with a rare musicality and elegance too. Seriously tasty.
fRoots. March, 2007

Solo Album Review

Anna-Wendy Stevenson - Anna-Wendy Stevenson (Eclectic Records)
Young Scots fiddle player Anna-Wendy is already a considerable veteran of touring, having worked with the groups Anam, Calluna and Fine Friday (whose lineup she currently graces), and latterly in a duo setting with pianist James Ross. Now she's branched out on a new project, in name a solo CD, on which she's joined by the aforementioned Mr Ross along with Ewan Vernal (bass) and James MacIntosh (percussion), who together provide a virtually omnipresent yet subtle and always sympathetic backdrop to Anna-Wendy's polished and beautifully moulded fiddling. Initial impressions of this disc are a mite deceptive, for Anna-Wendy's playing tends often to hide its dynamism beneath a finely-honed technique and a laid-back, easy virtuosity. Perhaps, too, the constant underlying presence of the piano gives the whole project a slightly understated ambience that's almost classical in its refinement, yet (just as with chamber music) there's actually a lot more going on than initially meets the ear (an awkward metaphor perhaps, but I'm sure you'll hear what I mean). The programme mixes traditional tunes with modern compositions in decent proportion, and includes three of Anne-Wendy's own (ranging from a lovely air written in tribute to her father to a spirited reel that she even got to play on the dreaded Balamory TV show!). The arrangements are sensible and cool (though not in the sense of unemotional), and textures are at all times intelligently managed; similarly with tempos, which are acutely agile yet relaxed and controlled, for Anna-Wendy doesn't need to show off by frenetic note-spinning and there's evidently no lack of fire or energy within. Her intuitive feel for phrasing is always impressive; I particularly liked her way with Lament For Glencoe and the extra opportunities for display of musicianship on the more extended Dog Bites set. This is a well-recorded and exceptionally musical CD which is likely to give much pleasure.

David Kidman

Album Review in the Box and Fiddle by Judith Linton

Box and Fiddle

This is the debut solo CD from fiddler Anna-Wendy Stevenson, although she has featured on a number of recordings over the years with groups such as Anam and Calluna and is in great demand as a freelance musician. On this recording she is joined by James Ross (piano), Ewan Vernal (bass) and James MacIntosh (percussion), all exceptionally gifted musicians in their own right. There are fifteen tracks, mixed between traditional and more contemporary tunes and tempos; the musical arrangements are excellent throughout, as is the playing. Anna-Wendy

Album Review in Living Tradition by David Kidman

Anna-Wendy Stevenson - Anna-Wendy Stevenson (Eclectic Records)

Young Scots fiddle player Anna-Wendy is already a considerable veteran of touring, having worked with the groups Anam, Calluna and Fine Friday (whose lineup she currently graces), and latterly in a duo setting with pianist James Ross. Now she's branched out on a new project, in name a solo CD, on which she's joined by the aforementioned Mr Ross along with Ewan Vernal (bass) and James MacIntosh (percussion), who together provide a virtually omnipresent yet subtle and always sympathetic backdrop to Anna-Wendy's polished and beautifully moulded fiddling. Initial impressions of this disc are a mite deceptive, for Anna-Wendy's playing tends often to hide its dynamism beneath a finely-honed technique and a laid-back, easy virtuosity. Perhaps, too, the constant underlying presence of the piano gives the whole project a slightly understated ambience that's almost classical in its refinement, yet (just as with chamber music) there's actually a lot more going on than initially meets the ear (an awkward metaphor perhaps, but I'm sure you'll hear what I mean). The programme mixes traditional tunes with modern compositions in decent proportion, and includes three of Anne-Wendy's own (ranging from a lovely air written in tribute to her father to a spirited reel that she even got to play on the dreaded Balamory TV show!). The arrangements are sensible and cool (though not in the sense of unemotional), and textures are at all times intelligently managed; similarly with tempos, which are acutely agile yet relaxed and controlled, for Anna-Wendy doesn't need to show off by frenetic note-spinning and there's evidently no lack of fire or energy within. Her intuitive feel for phrasing is always impressive; I particularly liked her way with Lament For Glencoe and the extra opportunities for display of musicianship on the more extended Dog Bites set. This is a well-recorded and exceptionally musical CD which is likely to give much pleasure.

www.annawendy.com

David Kidman

New singing venture for Calluna

All- women Scottish trio Calluna shall be performing at several festivals this autumn showcasing their new material and new found voices.

Irish Music Magazine May 2006 review by Alex Monaghan

Anna-Wendy Stevenson
Eclectic Records, ECL CD 0619
12 tracks, 46 minutes

An extraordinarily beautiful recording, Anna-Wendy

Scottish Field article by Ed Pearlman

Anna-Wendy lectures in Traditional music in the Outer Hebrides

After teaching at several Ceolas summer school weeks on the Island of South Uist and flying up to Benbecula as a guest tutor over the past few years, Anna-Wendy accepted the job of part-time music lecturer at Lews Castle College which is part of the University of the Highlands and Islands network. This job gives her a fantastic opportunity to live in a place where Gaelic is the language of the day to day living and where there are beautiful walks to be had, house parties and tunes. She is loving the teaching and the opportunity to live without the city distractions yet is able to fly to the mainland for gigs (it's handy having a friday off). The courses offered are fantastic and we have an amazing bunch of students this year. Students travel from all parts of the globe to study here. There are so many attractions to this place and to this course. The facilities are excellent for recording CDs and part of the learning is the study for a pro-tools certificate - the recording industry standard. The students perform in concerts throughout the year. These will be posted on this site as well as others.

Fiddle -On Article

Studying Traditional Music in the Hebrides

The cat is out of the bag in the traditional music world. Benbecula is putting itself on the map as a unique place to consider as an option for a year of study in a stunning location. The course features time to develop at your own pace, fantastic facilities including a professional studio, excellent resident and visiting lecturers, and the chance to gig around the beautiful Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Lews Castle College (LCC), Benbecula campus is part of the University of the Highlands and Islands network and the traditional music and Gaelic courses have steadily been growing in reputation since their inception in 2000. Now students are coming from as far a-field as New Zealand, Germany, Poland and the USA to immerse themselves in the rich Gaelic music culture of the Uists, one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Benbecula is renowned for its stunning beaches, and wild life, making it a painter

What's on my I-pod

Scottish fiddler and composer Anna-Wendy Stevenson.
Anna-Wendy

Thistle and Shamrock interview

Click here for details

Martyn Bennett Night Review

Item posted: Friday 2nd November , 2007

MARTYN BENNETT NIGHT (Queen

Divide and Conquer

Item posted: Saturday 29th March , 2008



Divide and conquer
By SUSAN MANSFIELD, THE SCOTSMAN
JAN 24th 2008

Three of Celtic Connections' bright stars started out in the same band. They tell SUSAN MANSFIELD about how Fine Friday helped shape their music.

ABOUT seven years ago, a promising trio of young musicians met at the Friday-night folk sessions in Sandy Bell's Bar in Edinburgh. They became Fine Friday, a vibrant young traditional band with a special, foot-tapping sound. They produced two acclaimed albums, Gone Dancing and Mowing the Machair, and toured in Europe and Australia, before they took the decision to go their separate ways in late 2005. Now, all three musicians

Interview with Anna-Wendy for the List magazine

Item posted: Monday 18th August , 2008

hirty years on from their formation, Scottish folk legends Jock Tamson

Composer of the Year Nomination 2011

Item posted: Sunday 6th November , 2011

I am delighted to have been nominated in the category 'composer of the year' for my work 'My Edinburgh' in the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards 2011. If you would like to cast a vote in these awards, you can do at the following webpage:
http://www.scottishcultureonline.com/vote-now-in-the-mg-alba-scots-trad-music-awards-2011/

Feel free to pass this on to your contacts!
Voting open Oct 31st