The Unfinished Violin

Sam Sweeney's Fiddle: Made in the Great War show toured from 2014 to last year, and he has chosen that same World War I fiddle, made by a music hall performer in Leeds, recovered from an Oxford violin shop and played on innumerable gigs, to be the focus of his debut solo album. It features a swelling, stately tune called ‘The Wellesley’, from the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment, of which Sweeney's violin maker, Richard Howard, was a member up until his death at the Battle of Messines in 1917. Sweeney played it over Howard's grave in 2017, at the first of what will be annual Richard Howard walks. He says the emotion was overwhelming, and that is the general tenor of this outstanding album. It comprises 16 pieces to mark the centenary of the war's end, ranging from Scottish pipe tunes to popular dances and marches that began their lives in civvies before being inveigled into the military. Sweeney, with guests including Leveret bandmate Rob Harbron, guitarist Jack Rutter, pianist Becky Price, double bassist Ben Nicholls and a brass and string section, return an intense and beautifully performed humanity to them all.

Sweeney's playing is unearthly at times: the singular focus of this set and the level of its performance makes this an outstanding and deeply moving experience.