Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Moray Welsh, cello
London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alasdair Mitchell
This score video is provided for educational (non-commercial) use only, using the edition produced as part of Mitchell's 2002 doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh (era.ed.ac.uk/items/2c0225b8-226a-4764-ae87-5e5e89a0cc4b).
John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) was a Scottish composer and educator, most notable for his decades-long tenure teaching composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. For more information about McEwen, see my score video of his fourth string quartet: youtu.be/Dvk6pWg_VAc
"Hills o'Heather" was originally written for cello and piano in 1918, at the close of World War I before being orchestrated the following year. It is a work typically evocative of the composer's native Scotland; according to Mitchell, the first melody in the cello "owes a lot to the pibroch style of bagpipe playing first developed in the 17th century on the island of Skye", while the second contains "inflections reminiscent of Celtic folk song." While the original version for cello and piano was published in 1919, this recording from 1994 represents the first performance of the orchestral version - McEwen never made note of it publicly, and it remained unknown until it was found in his archives.
Moray Welsh, cello
London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alasdair Mitchell
This score video is provided for educational (non-commercial) use only, using the edition produced as part of Mitchell's 2002 doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh (era.ed.ac.uk/items/2c0225b8-226a-4764-ae87-5e5e89a0cc4b).
John Blackwood McEwen (1868-1948) was a Scottish composer and educator, most notable for his decades-long tenure teaching composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. For more information about McEwen, see my score video of his fourth string quartet: youtu.be/Dvk6pWg_VAc
"Hills o'Heather" was originally written for cello and piano in 1918, at the close of World War I before being orchestrated the following year. It is a work typically evocative of the composer's native Scotland; according to Mitchell, the first melody in the cello "owes a lot to the pibroch style of bagpipe playing first developed in the 17th century on the island of Skye", while the second contains "inflections reminiscent of Celtic folk song." While the original version for cello and piano was published in 1919, this recording from 1994 represents the first performance of the orchestral version - McEwen never made note of it publicly, and it remained unknown until it was found in his archives.
