Lord Gordon’s reel

Wow, you must have laboured for *days* on this one. Jeremy should feel honoured.

wow—looong tune!

Show-off piece!

The most recent recording on which this tune can be heard is probably Peter Horan and Gerry Harrington’s “Fortune Favours The Merry.” The sleeve notes says it derives from a strathspey called “The Duke of Gordon”: https://thesession.org/tunes/2814

Ciaran’s recording of this is alone worth the price of the CD (and there are many other great tracks on it as well)…..

My favourite version of this is by Matt Cranitch on the Na Fili album A Kindly Welcome: solo fiddle, tons of reverb, simply sublime!

hi iv bin tyryin to download a recording of this from somewhere but i cant find any of the ones you have said
can you suggest any other musicians that have recorded this tune??
thank u
xx
louisianna

also (another thingi no) would anyone be able to help wih wich guitar chords are needed?

Kevin Burke opens “Up Close” with “Lord Gordon’s”. Available here, for the princely sum of £0.79.

http://www.tradtunes.com/

anyone know of any box players who play this??

and thanks kenny i downloaded the whole kevin burke album…well worth it i recon

https://thesession.org/recordings/1056

Kathryn Tickell plays this on fiddle on her second album “Borderlands”, which may or may not still be available.

Someone told me this originally a scottish tune, does anyone know if that’s true or not?

Some tunes are just worth it. This one is definitely worth it!!

Widely described as a piping tune, how much sweeter in the hands of a fiddler (the likes of Kevin Burke)!

www.myspace.com/iainmacdonald

Version by Iain MacDonald & Iain MacFarlane - click on “The Duke of Gordon’s Birthday”

Who describes it as a “piping” tune ? Relatively few recordings of it on pipes compared to fiddle, I would have thought. Incidentally, my favourite version would be by Conal O’Grada on Colm Murphy’s “An Bodhran” CD.

I got that impression from pipers comments on it, + it features in some tutorbooks as a pipering classic…
But I think that unique low A in the first bar -and the mellifluous accidentals- lend the whole tune a depth the pipes can’t match. Though a piper myself, I’ll bow to that!
I haven’t heard formal recordings of it on the pipes, or they didn’t leave the same impression of utter bliss…
Does any one know the earliest reference for that tune or the name of the composer?

Seamus Ennis’s playing of the 2-part version of the tune can be found on this page: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/music/index.html A similar 2-part version has been recorded by E. Galway musicians.

Great version on the fiddle by Johnny Canning from Glasgow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Pb-ZAWoZk

play video

This setting is from the playing of Michael Coleman. I’m not sure but I think he made this tune into the multi-part monster that we know today. This setting is closer to the way I’ve heard Burke, MacGann & even Tourish & Doherty play it. Some players play gb (3bbb gebe instead of fb (3bbb febe in the third part. There was an older 2 part reel called “Lord Gordon’s” That I’ve seen in a Scottish collection which is closer to the 1st & 2nd parts of this setting.

X:1
T:Lord Gordon’s
M:C|
L:1/8
S:M Coleman
R:reel
K:D
dB ||: AD (3FED A,DFB | AD (3FED FAdc | BE~E2 dE~E2 | BE~E2 BAFA | dcdf edef | (3ABA ^GB A2Bc | (3dcB (3cBA BFAF |1 EFGA BcdB :|2 EFGA Bcde |
|: f2 df afde | (3faf df a2 gf | efga bgec | dcBA GABc | d~f3 e~B3 | AFdF A2 Bc | dB (3cBA BFAF | EFGA Bcde :|
|: fa (3aaa fdad | fa (3aaa fdad | fb(3bbb febe | fb(3bbb febe | ~f3e ~d3B | (3ABA ^GB A2e(f | a)fec dBAF | EFGA Bcde :|
| Adcd fdcd |Adcd fdcd | egfg bgfg |egfg bgeg | fgfe dedB | (3ABA ^GB A2e(f | a)fec dBAF | EFGA BcdB |
Ad{e}dc defd | Ad{e}dc defd | eg{a}gf ~g3f | (3efg {a}gf ~g3f | fgfe dedB | (3ABA ^GB A2e(f | a)fec dBAF | EFGA Bcde |
|: fa{b}a^g afde | fa{b}a^g afdf | gbef gbef | gbef gfef | gb(3bbb fa (3aaa |fedB ABdf | afec dBAF |1 EFGA BcdB :|2 EFGA B2 | “Final Ending”[G2B2] [F2A2] ||

http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhaltaslive_399_1_orlaith_mcauliffe_colm_mcgonigle

I see a setting of this in Joyce’s manuscripts under the name “My Heart with Love Is Beating”.

My friend James Murray from Tubbercurry gives a brilliant rendition of this tune on his recent album ‘The Powellsborough Lassies’. I’m biased of course but this album deserves more recognition.

This one’s strictly for the Fiddle nerds (and because it’s a good way to learn to code bowing) - this version from Dave Lyth’s excellent book.

Additional… that took FORFECKINEVER to code. I cooked a chicken!

https://youtu.be/zuHAQv7P-As

play video

This is a strathspey entitled, “The Duke of Gordon’s Rant.” It may very well be the original source of this beloved tune.

X:1
%
T:Duke of Gordon’s Rant
M:C|
L:1/8
R:Strathspey
S:McGlashan - Strathspey Reels (1786)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:D
B|A>DF>D A>DDB|A>DF>D A3d|B>EG>E B>EE>c|
d>efd (B2 B)c|d>ef>a e>fd>B|A>FD>F A>Bd>e|
f>de>B d>BAF|E/E/E F>A B2B||f/g/|a>df>d addf/g/|
a>dfd a3f|b>eg>e b>eef|gfed B3c|d>ef>a e>fd>B|
A>FD>F A>Bd>e|f>de>B d>BA>F|E/E/E F>A (B2 B)||
f/g/|a>dfd addf/g/|a>dfd a3f|b>eg>e b>eeb|a>fe>d (B2 B)c|
d>ef>a e>fd>B|A>FD>F A>Bd>e|f>ae>f d>BAF|E/E/E F>A (B2B)||

Woooohoooo, when I saw theese versions, of a fantastic tune, with all this bows and stuff, it made me absolutely confused. In my opinion it’s not the easy’est thing in the world to read that stuff, and remember it, I can’t see the meaning with it, but now I have made a version of one of the above, where I have vacuumed it for all these ‘oddities’.
It should now be a little more easy to read, and then you can put your own stuff in it when you’ve learned the tune.

X: 4
T: Lord Gordon’s
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
dB | AD F/E/D AD F/E/D | AD F/E/D FAdc | BE ~E2 B,E~E2 | BE~E2 BAFA |
dcdf ecdB | AA^GB A2 Bc | dBcA BFAF | EFGA Bc :|
de|f2df afdg | f2df afgf | efga bgec | dcBA ^GABc |
dcdf ecdB | AFdF A2Bc | ddcd BdAF | EFGA Bc :|
de| fa a/a/a fdad | fa a/a/a fdad | fb b/b/b febe | fb b/b/b febe |
fgfe dcdB | AA^GB ABdf | afec dBAF | EFGA Bc :|
dB|Addc defd | Addc defd | egfg bgfg | egfg bgeg |
~f3e dcdB | AA^GB ABdf | afec dBAF | EFGA Bc:|
de| fa~a2 afde | fa~a2 afde | gbef gbef | gbef gaaf |
g2ag faag | fedB ABdf | afec dBAF | EFGA Bc :|

transscription of Angelina Carberry’s lovely two part version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGuBEw0qSCs

play video

second tune in the video, starts at 1:25 min

Brought forward from a recent discussion:

Uninteresting Tunes
https://thesession.org/discussions/44963
# Posted by PatFlat - May 22nd, 2020

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“88 recordings of “Lord Gordon’s” listed here. Anyone who thinks it’s “boring” needs to listen to Conal O’Grada’s version on Colm Murphy’s “An Bodhran” CD - Or these:”

Comhaltas Live: Lord Gordon’s Reel - played by Orlaith McAuliffe (tin whistle) and Colm McGonigle (harp) at The Herschel Arms, Slough.
https://youtu.be/mOi4zZD-Ntw

play video

Kevin Burke: Up Close - Lord Gordon’s Reel
https://youtu.be/ZWCgnVWy0zM

play video

# Posted by Kenny - May 23rd, 2020

Kenny, which version of the above is Kevin playing?

To all A couple of the ones above are so long, then there is a shorter one.
Why are they so long, they don’t follow the traditional sheet music style 16 and 16 measures.
Don’t mind the questions justa novice fiddler here. 🙂

“Kenny, which version of the above is Kevin playing?”
Not necessarily any of them, although it might be closest to B.Maloney’s transcription of the Michael Coleman version.
There’s no such thing as “traditional sheet music style”, and absolutely no rule which says any tune has to have “16 measures”.
The original “Lord Gordon’s” reel had 2 parts. The Sligo fiddle player Michael Coleman, allegedly, added another 3 parts based on variations from the original tune. His recordings were so popular that everyone started learning his 5-part version, to the point that the now “accepted” version of “Lord Gordon’s” is his setting - that is certainly the case at least in Ireland and in my own personal experience.
Hope this helps. Regards, Kenny.

With a few changes here and there, this setting is based highly off of Orlaith McAuliffe’s version; and this one is my absolute FAVOURITE. This setting is also meant for flute/whistle, compared to the other violin transcriptions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOi4zZD-Ntw&ab_channel=Flutes%26Whistles

play video

From Danny O’mahony’s version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMGYofnxEoE at 33:30 played on a D/D# therefore a tone and half above Cmaj, for all you B/Cers out there.

play video