Donald Macpherson A Living Legend

october 2004 7 tracks 76 mins maccrimmon s sweetheart the big spree ronald macdonald of morar s lament lord lovat s lament the blue ribbon mary s praise donald gruamach s march truly a collector s item the cd of this living legend of piping comes encased in a 168 page illustrated hardback book of cd size with tremendous notes on the tunes the piping style and the piper himself in english german french and spanish seven pibroch are featured composed between 1537 and 1747 between 1948 and 1990 whenever donald macpherson stepped onto the platform a hush fell his mastery has set the benchmark of excellence in highland bagpiping for generations despite his infrequent attendance donald made history at the premier piping competitions by winning first prize on most of his visits a precision engineer by profession he was never a keen performer nor self promoter and recordings of him are rare on this disc he champions pibroch one of europe s great instrumental traditions sophisticated and soulful these compositions have been transmitted aurally since the seventeenth century and are considered the test of a piper s genius no one plays them more magnificently than donald macpherson