The Inchcolm Antiphoner
Scotland's oldest musical manuscript (c.1340) arranged for saxophone quartet by Fraser Fifield (soprano) performed with Sue McKenzie (alto), Martin Kershaw (tenor) and Allon Beauvoisin (baritone).
Review by Jim Gilchrist for The Scotsman, 11/09/2026
★★★★
"Saxophonist and piper Fraser Fifield has spent a highly productive four years as traditional artist in residence at Edinburgh University's Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, delving deeply into the department's archives to produce some memorable projects. He finishes his residency with perhaps the most unusual of these, his arrangement of Scotland's oldest known musical manuscript, The Inchcolm Antiphoner, for saxophone quartet. Dating from around 1340, the Antiphoner was a collection of songs, notated on vellum, associated with the Augustinian priory on Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth. To arrange these for saxophone quartet – Fifield on soprano sax, Sue McKenzie alto, Martin Kershaw tenor and Allon Beauvoisin baritone – may seem perverse but, given Fifield's regard for the voice-like quality of these instruments, it has paid off surprisingly and beautifully, as their reedy tones sing out, revivifying and harmonising these originally monophonic liturgical cadences in all their serenity".
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