Michael Grey Piping Live! recital revisited

On August 10, 2011, pipes|drums presented another first with a full-length recital by Michael Grey at the Piping Live! Glasgow International Festival of Piping. The 45-minute concert was the first known time that a piper played only original compositions in a recital format.

We now revisit the recital via video excerpts on the pipes|drums Channel.

The concert was part of pipes|drums’ sponsorship of the Piping Live! Street Café outside of the National Piping Centre. During the recital, the audience attending the free event was given a CD with all of the scores of the compositions that Michael Grey played.

“I remember being very thankful for the big tent and thinking it surreal as I played and watched pelting rain run down the side of the plastic tent windows,” Grey said when asked to comment on the experience two months later. “I thought the audience was great; really noisy and supportive – at least I took the noise to be support. The whole set-up, from stage to tables, chairs and bar is perfect for someone to play a few sets of tunes on the pipes. The time flew by and in the end I didn’t have time to play all the music in the scores handed out to the audience. I had a blast!”

Michael Grey has been composing for the Highland pipes since he was a teenager in the late-1970s. He has published five collections of music, and his tunes are frequently and consistently played by bands and soloists of all levels, including 2011 World Champions Field Marshal Montgomery, which opened their winning medley with Grey’s hornpipe “Beverley’s Wedding.”

Stay tuned to pipes|drums for more video excerpts from other 2011 Piping Live! sponsored-events.