A Glint O’ Scottish Fiddle

Co-founder of Breabach Patsy Reid is one of the finest fiddle players working the Scottish scene today. A Glint O’ Scottish Fiddle is Reid's third studio album, and a beautiful piece of work it is too. It is a pared-down affair – just Reid and pianist Alistair Iain Paterson – which provides plenty of opportunity to focus purely on the tunes themselves.

Opening with some scrumptious traditional tunes, including the sweet ‘Strathearn’, the album meanders pleasantly through a mix of traditional and more modern tunes. Mike MacDougall's ‘Father Eugene's Welcome to Cape North’ picks up the pace with its spiky set of traditional tunes, before settling into Gráinne Brady's ‘The Quartz Jig’, which itself merges beautifully into a set by Phil Cunningham and Donald Shaw. ‘Niel Gow's Wife’ is a striking lament that precedes the final track, the much missed Angus R Grant's ‘2:50 to Vigo’ – a rather quieter and more tender version of the original. Do yourself a favour: grab a wee dram, a seat near a cosy fire, and savour this sumptuous, beautiful duet between fiddle and piano.