Gifted man of music gets a loud and clear salute

MARTYN BENNETT DAY
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall / Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow 14th January 2006

ON 14 JANUARY, 1994, the then 21-year-old Martyn Bennett made his debut at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, supporting Mouth Music at the first Celtic Connections. On 30 January, 2005, as last year's festival ended, Bennett finally lost his long battle with cancer. In the interim, over four celebrated albums and many unforgettable live shows, the multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer emerged as one of the most extraordinarily gifted and far-sighted artists Scotland has produced. And so on 14 January, 2006, over 100 like-minded musicians gathered to play two spellbinding concerts, with the aim of carrying forward Bennett's profound and multi-faceted legacy.

The most striking aspect of the afternoon's performance, exploring the more classically oriented dimensions of Bennett's oeuvre in the company of Mr McFall's Chamber, the Scottish Opera Orchestra and guest soloists, was the loud-and-clear sense of Bennett's voice speaking through the music. And this in a programme that ranged from his Fantasy and Toccata for solo piano, through a resplendent new arrangement of Liberation, to the heart-stopping magnificence of Mackay's Memoirs, his suite for bagpipes, clarsach and orchestra - plus Michael Marra and Psalm 121.

And the wee man himself was surely smiling down on the Fruitmarket that night as his trad/clubland fusion band, Cuillin Music, staged their first reunion, climaxing in an almighty rammy of massed pipes, drums and neo-pagan dancers.

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Gifted man of music gets a loud and clear salute
Original Scotsman Article:
http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=69862006

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Paying musical respects to the memory of Martyn Bennett
Read Kenny Mathieson's Scotsman Article:
http://heritage.scotsman.com/traditions.cfm?id=10762006

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Postal donations to the Martyn Bennett Trust can be sent to:

The Martyn Bennett Trust
BJ Stewart c/o
64 Newbattle Terrace
Edinburgh EH10 4RX