While Rome Burns

In last year's referendum, Scotland voted to remain in the European Union, and the title of Scottish-based trio Bellevue Rendezvous’ new album surely reflects their view of what is going on. Their music, as they say of the first track, ‘Smoke and Mirrors’, is ‘defiantly European.’ One of the more beautiful tunes, ‘Fields of Love’, is actually inspired by a French motorway service station – one that, despite its idyllic name, Les Champs d’Amour, is particularly unpleasant. There are tunes from Galicia, Finland, Romania and Norway; some from Scotland and some of their own, including ‘The European Dream’, described as ‘a fiddler's eye view of world events.’
Gavin Marwin (fiddle), Ruth Morris (nyckelharpa) and Cameron Robson (cittern and guitar) are each highly accomplished musicians. They can play with great velocity, but never simply for the sake of speed, and they always find the appropriate pace. The track ‘Hvit Marsj’, learned from a Baroque orchestra in Trondheim, is beguiling. They have fun with a set of polksas and this enjoyable album ends with a sirto dance tune by an Armenian-American oud (lute) player.
They play so well together that the trio often sound as if they are a single instrument. Then there will be an emphatic change, with one of the instruments coming to the fore, then another; this music is richly textured.