Gin I were a wise loon, Ah'd duly play ma pairt

December 24, 2020 7:14 PM

Iona Fyfe sings a Scots translation of Christina Rossetti's In the Bleak Midwinter.

Not your style? Perhaps you'd prefer one of these:

• Anns An Dubhlachd Gheamhraidh (Fiona Mackenzie)
• Midt I Hårdest Vinter (Renate & Morten Gjerløw Larsen)
• Mitt i vintern var det (Rebecca Lennartsson)
• Mitten im kalten Winter (Kammerchor Perlmutt)
• Keskitalvi synkkä (Dominante Choir & Seppo Murto)
• In The Bleak Midwinter (Steeleye Span)

posted by Not A Thing (3 comments total)

A lovely collection, thank you!

Am I missing it, or is the Bandcamp page for the first link mentioning neither poet nor the composer? - the latter wrote it in 1906! Trad. by now, but not Anon.
posted by clew at 11:21 PM on December 24, 2020 [2 favorites]

Thank you for this. I first came across Iona Fyfe on Susan Calman's 'Secret Scotland' where she sang the haunting 'Baltic Street'. Beautiful and wonderous singing. This version of In the Bleak Midwinter is a lovely tune and fits so well within the melancholy Christmas tradition. While available on Spotify, I was pleased to buy directly on Bandcamp where Fyfe should, I hope, receive way more.
posted by vac2003 at 1:22 AM on December 25, 2020 [1 favorite]

@ clew, I believe you are correct. I assume this is the Gustav Holst setting, but lack the musicality to be certain.
posted by Not A Thing at 7:29 AM on December 25, 2020