This piece contains a mixture of original tunes and arrangements of songs from the Isle of Skye that were collected by Francis Tolmie in the nineteenth century. The original tunes are from the composer’s own collection of bagpipe melodies composed in tribute to the Isle of Skye. It was originally composed for brass band and the orchestral version dates from 2019. The order is as follows:
Laoidh Dhiarmad (heroic lay sung by Margaret MacLeod, cotter, Portree, Skye, 1870). The Black Cuillins (slow march).
Loch Coruisk (retreat).
Armadale Castle (Strathspey).
Mrs Mackinnon of Torrin (reel).
Talisker Whisky (jig).
’fac thu na féidh? (‘Have you seen the deer?’ – sung in the nursery at Bracadale Manse, Skye, 1861.
Colann gun chean (The headless body – sung by Mrs Macpherson [Mary Macdonald], poet, native of Trotternish, Skye, at Contin Manse, Ross-shire, 1870).
The music is structured as a set of airs and dances, the latter proceeding in the familiar manner from Strathspey to Reel to Jig.
