BBC SCOTLAND YOUNG TRADITIONAL MUSICIAN 2005 ****

GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL

PIPER Stuart Cassells from Falkirk was named BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2005 after another keenly contested final at Celtic Connections. He is the first piper to take the prize and did so with a thrilling performance that combined musicality and adventure with an amiable line in ribald patter.

Cassells made a dramatic entry at the start of the second half. He had his accompanists already under way as he strode on stage playing Highland pipes. His technical skill was obvious throughout two sets of rousing up-tempo tunes on the Highland instrument, and a contrastingly sweet and expressive slow set on cauld wind pipes.

It was his musicality and willingness to push beyond conventions in the manner of his piping hero, Gordon Duncan, that made him a worthy winner of the fifth staging of this prize.

He beat off strong competition from two fiddlers and three Gaelic singers. The first of the singers, Rachel Newton from Edinburgh, also played clarsach and opened the show in confident fashion with a fine instrumental set.

Fiddler Mike Vass from Nairn was accompanied by his twin, Ali, and delivered a strong set of mainly contemporary tunes, including a tribute to his sister’s headgear, Ali’s Incredible Hat.

Gaelic singer Darren MacLean, from Skye closed the first half in vibrant fashion and was clearly a strong contender for the prize.

Fiddler Sarah Naylor, also from Skye, made her second appearance in the finals of this competition, and her fluent and expressive playing has grown in authority since last year.

Maeve MacKinnon from Glasgow performed her songs - three in Gaelic and an unusual and refined version of the Irish session staple The Wild Rover - in accomplished fashion. The overall standard of the competitors was as high as ever and underlined the current fecundity of traditional music (and traditional music education) in Scotland.

KENNY MATHIESON, THE SCOTSMAN

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