Edinburgh Evening News - 03/02/03

"You had one with Peter Morrison. Two with the Alexander Brothers. And now there are three with Caledon, Scotland's Three Tenors. Kilts, that is. But that's about as close as the similarity gets.

And while The Tenors may have brought the polished brogues and outrageously furry collie-sized sporrans and finery of highland dress with them, they have taken the whole thing into a new dimension."

Fizz

"For the most part, they take themselves seriously - though thankfully not too seriously - and the only flaw is that they haven't quite shaken off the musty plaid of tartan tourist tat.

There was a slow start, with Celine Donoghue on fiddle and Keith Eskdale on uillian pipes. Skilled as they are, it took pianist and musical director Michael Barnett to add a bit of fizz and colour trills into the piece.

But things picked up pace with the arrival of The Tenors. Launching into Scots Wha Hae! Alan Beck, Ivan Sharpe and Jamie MacDougall demonstrated some of what was to come.

Taking turns at singing the lines they revealed three very different voices that soared to the rafters and melded together to produce rich harmonies as they worked their way through Burns and beyond.

There was also a great deal of coming and going as a variety of instruments were brought into play. Everything from the banjo to pipes and bouzouki were used to accompany a packed set of Burns' songs and traditional tunes.

One highlight was Sharpe's rendition of Aye Fond Kiss, a song that "contains the essence of a thousand love songs". And Sharpe captured that spirit, holding the audience spellbound with his passionate delivery.

The pièce de resistance of the first half was the song Gloomy Winter's Noo Awa', during which Barnett broke into Michael Nyman's theme from The Piano: it was hard to miss the uncanny similarity between the two pieces.

The second half of the programme took the form of a short history of Scotland in song.

This involved some outstanding songs of Jacobite rebellion, delivered by three divine voices and a creative arrangement that included a pounding beat on a bhodran echoed by some enthusiastic piano slapping.

A temporary departure by Caledon left the stage to Donoghue on banjo and Easdale on bouzouki to play a selection of reels and jigs. Talented though they are, it may have been their position at the back of the stage, that meant they had difficulty in persuading the audience to clap along.

Again Caledon brought things back on track with a superb rendition of Dougie Maclean's Caledonia. And when the tom-tom piano chords of The Proclaimers' 500 Miles rang out and the trio launched into the opening line "When I wake up ..." it was enough to bring a chuckle from sections of the audience. The rich voices and intricate harmonies turned what is, in essence, a pop song into a real classic before your very ears.

The programme was well constructed and stylishly delivered and the closing number, Highland Cathedral, once again allowed the three exquisite voices to produce a powerful spectrum of rich harmonies, delivered at volume, yet tempered with honey sweetness."