Three Helen B. Cruickshank songs

Cruickshank was a suffragette, a committed Scottish nationalist, and a founder member of the Scottish branch of the writers’ organisation PEN. She was one of a group of ‘Scottish Renaissance’ poets who chose to work in the Scots language rather than English. There Was A Sang is a great introduction to the voices of both the composer and the poet, featuring rubato and unconventional octave doubling; Ballad of Lost Ladye echoes traditional ballads in form; Sea Buckthorn is written in a more modern style.