Released in 2020 from the growing HIP stable of Concerto Caledonia, this fascinating project explores the music taken by Scots colonist Georgiana McCrae when she sailed to Australia in 1840. Featuring Scottish soprano Lorna Anderson, the recording was made in March 2019 in Dalkeith Palace, Midlothian, using historic instruments – a harp made by Sébastien Erard (1815) and a square piano by Thomas Preston, c. 1820. Joint funding was provided by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Great Britain, the University of Southampton, the University of Glasgow, and Sydney Living Museums, and the tracks featured in the “Songs of Home” exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, curated by Dr Matthew Stephens.
From the liner note: “Songs of Home explored concepts of home and homeland through the music of First Nations peoples, convicts, and settlers to understand the forces at work in creating a new and uniquely Australian soundscape in the early nineteenth century”.