Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Scotland took home the overall prize at the 2020 Glenfiddich Piping Championship, held yesterday behind closed doors in the Ballroom of Blair Castle in Perthshire, Scotland.
Inveraray & District Pipe Band’s Pipe Major notched two seconds which were enough to secure him the overall title.
It is the third time that Liddell has won the Glenfiddich, regarded by most as the pinnacle of solo piping.
Competitors are asked to submit six tunes from each genre.
Results:
Ceòl Mòr
1. Jack Lee, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada – Lament for Colin Roy MacKenzie
2. Stuart Liddell, Inveraray, Scotland – In Praise of Morag
3. Finlay Johnston, Glasgow, Scotland – Rory MacLoude’s Lament
4. Roddy MacLeod MBE, Moodiesburn, Scotland – The Battle of Auldearn, #2
5. Angus MacColl, Benderloch, Scotland – The Unjust Incarceration
Judges: Jack Taylor, Iain MacFadyen and Willie Morrison.
MSR (twice through each tune)
1. Willie MacCallum, Bearsden, Scotland – Angus Campbell’s Farewell to Stirling, Shepherd’s Crook, Bessie McIntyre
2. Stuart Liddell – Duke of Roxburgh’s Farewell to the Blackmount Forest, Cat Lodge, Drumlithie
3. Roddy MacLeod MBE – The Marchioness of Tullibardine, Piper’s Bonnet, The Grey Bob
4. Bruce Gandy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada – Leaving Lunga, Ewe wi’ the Crookit Horn, Stornoway Castle
5. Iain Speirs, Edinburgh, Scotland – The Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society, Tulloch Gorm, John McKechnie
Judges: Walter Cowan, Colin MacLellan and Ian McLellan BEM.
Overall
1. Stuart Liddell
2. Jack Lee
3. Roddy MacLeod MBE
Also competing but not in the prizes were Connor Sinclair and Callum Beaumont.
The fear an tighe (emcee) was John Wilson.
“Stuart’s tune was intense and serious, like it had read loads of Proust and understood too much of it. A serious tune about a serious subject. And played on a seriously good pipe.” – Bagpipe.News’ Stuart Letford was one of the few allowed inside the Ballroom of Blair Castle yesterday. Read his article next week on Bagpipe.News.
The event took place yesterday and was recorded by Inner Ear Media with the live recording broadcast today. Thousands watched the broadcast around the world.
The Balvenie Medal, awarded for a lifetime of service to piping, was not presented this year.
As the MSR judges deliberated and as the overall results were then calculated, a touching musical tribute to Alex Duncan, who died tragically last month, was heard. Alex was the son of Ian and Chris Duncan. John Wilson introduced John Dew who then played Roddy MacDonald’s composition, Lament for Alex Duncan. Roddy has allowed us to reproduce his score here:
