The Recluse hornpipe

I wanted to submit this tune in Eb Major but the only Key close to it that is allowed is G Minor.

Very nice tune, Heiko. Where’d you come across it?

My wife is a big fan of Nathalie Mc Master and I couldn’t find this tune in the net ,so I had to write it down from her record. It is composed by J. P. Cormier. If you play it watch out for the Ab’s.

F Dorian is the trick to be able to submit a tune in Eb.

“The Recluse” was one of several Eb hornpipes written by the Scottish composer J.D.Michie, including another beauty, “The Autocrat” (1933). I have not heard Nathalie MacMaster’s version, but the transcription offered by Heiko is simpler and differs in other ways from the original. If the attribution to Cormier comes from MacMaster’s sleeve notes then I believe them to be incorrect.

You’re right Nick. The sleeve Notes only say that it is first recorded in the early ’30’s by Hiram Hosey. Where do you find the original version of the composer?

As far as I know, the copyright to “The Recluse” is owned by a Scottish accordion player, but I have no idea if it has been published recently; I take it it must have been about in the 30s for Hosey to be playing it. “The Autocrat” was I think published in a collection called “Old World Dances” which I have never seen. There is also a recording of the late Tommy Doucet of Boston playing these tunes in very fine style, although I have heard it said that he swapped the B parts, but it is so long since I heard that recording that I cannot confirm whether this is true or not. What I can say is that his technique on these tunes is very special and you could buy the album just for this track alone, in spite of its crackly old quality.