Corrina Hewat is in the same master’s league with other Scottish harpists like Catriona McKay, Ailie Robertson and Rachel Newton, but she hasn’t released her own music – at least in recorded form – in ages.
But it’s 2025 and here she is now, with music that has completely surprised and enchanted me. What an absolutely precious album!
I will let her tell the background. This is what she tells in in her Bandcamp page:
I wanted to write for harps and harpers who were in Scotland, playing Scottish music, ancient and modern; to write for players who
had a specific style, sound and personality which would, together, work in harmony. Finding inspiration in Eugene Field’s story of the Oak and the Ivy in ‘The Little Book of Profitable Tales’ published in 1901, I wanted to hear the wood’s voice within the harp and reflect my intention of allowing the forest to speak and I would listen.
So: new music for harps and harpers, and that’s what we have here. Corrina + six harpists, with famed pianist Dave Milligan appearing on the last two of the album’s four tracks.
Indeed, Song of Oak and Ivy consists of only four pieces, each one a set of original tunes. The shortest is the opening Greenwood Jig / Fèis Rois Jig and even that is 6 min 27 sec. All of the other three run for 10-11 minutes.
If that seems longish to you, I can assure you they don’t feel at all too long or unnecessarily extended. The tunes may be based on Scottish folk music traditions, but the compositions and the presentation are closer to modern classical music. I would absolutely see this ensemble playing these pieces in a chamber music concert or festival.
The main reason I absolutely love this album is that she finds the area between contemporary classical and something very open, approachable and natural, as befits her theme of nature, forests and seasons. The music beautifully evokes the presence of the natural world without being artificial or cloying.
It’s also music that, when I listen to it, completely obliterates time for me. I have previously called some albums Highland or Celtic Zen, and Song of Oak and Ivy is another example of how music in the Celtic sphere can actually have meditative effects.
I wish to emphasize that this is a compliment and praise from me. I have absolutely no sympathy for the commercial audio sludge that is marketed as meditational or Zen. I take my Zen seriously (I studied comparative religion as my major) and only mention it when I truly feel that the music merits this description.
I don’t want to analyze or break down the four pieces of the album since they form a whole that runs for about 45 minutes, taking us through different emotions and colors and seasons. I approach this music as a continuous stream of expression and vision.
As for the seven harpist playing here, they are doing an amazing job, particularly as Corrina Hewat has composed music that requires intricate and precise interplay between the musicians while at the same time keeping the sound flowing and open.
As the harpists play here as an orchestra, with each playing their own score, there is a risk that the music might come out sounding like a music box, very meticulous and precise and completely soulless. Thankfully this risk has been completely avoided and the playing is something that has to be heard to be believed.
And the main credit where it is due: her compositional skills have to be formidable since she has written music that could have been overly complicated and tangled into itself – the sheer number of notes here is galactic – but instead, she has written music that radiates all over.
In a time when the entire world seems to be going into hell in a handbasket, this music feels like it’s sent from heaven, or perhaps it sent by some very benign and kind forest spirits who want to tell us that they are still around and they are not giving up.
Thank you Corrina for this experience, this world of music.
FolkNotes 