Songs of FG Scott

Lisa Milne, Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside (piano)

Signum SIGCD096

With the Scottish National Party poised to prevail in the parliamentary elections on May 3, a shout of welcome for this BBC/Signum release stemming for Iain Burnside's wide-ranging and innovative Voice programmes on BBC Radio3.

Unknown to me, this composer (1880-1958) brings to mind such diverse originals as Ives, Bartok, Schoenberg & Wolf - to name a few cited in Burnside's introduction.

Stylistically polyglot, the selection of 32 songs is compelling, and sung with zest and commitment by Scottish born soprano Lisa Milne and versatile Englishman Roderick Williams.

Signum's production is impeccable, with translations into English of songs by Hugh MacDiarmid and others, and five pages of glossary. "Blazing with spiritual energy" (MacDiarmid) and with "originality much too strong to be overlooked" (Burnside), this CD is recommended as a unique discovery, not to be missed.

PETER GRAHAME WOOLF