One of two recent releases impressionistically exploring the life of two famous but unrelated women, Scottish singer, poet and musician MacGillivray's (Kirsten Norrie) eighth album is a tribute to the tragic historical figure, Mary Queen of Scots, on the 435th anniversary of her death (Feb. 8th, 2022). Of the two (Charming Disaster's 'Our Lady of Radium' being the other) this is the one that strives to be most historically accurate in certain respects. On the 20 second opening you hear the creaking stairs Mary was said to have descended on her way to execution from Fotheringay Castle. Song lyrics are set to dulcitone and embedded with air recorded at many of the places she lived, was imprisoned and died in. With influences from French Chanson, the troubadour tradition and contemporaneous composition by William Byrd, for example, the record showcases lyrics by the doomed hunchback secretary and guitar tutor David Riccio or Rizzio and transposes sonnets and letters by Mary herself.

The first musical offering, "Dry My Hair, My Feet Are Clean" is a haunting piece with lyrics taken from Mary's last (execution) letter that becomes nearly processional with slow percussion and measured steps. The title "Though Death May Use My Bones As Trophies" may sound more harrowing than the preceding track, but is actually much sweeter in its melody and execution. The "Haar Cradle Song" comes from Mary's Birthing Room at Edinburgh Castle. You can't do a Mary Queen of Scots album without bagpipes, and so they appear (courtesy of Crisdean MacDonald on location in Bonnie Prince Charlie's Cave, Elgol, Isle of Skye) in "Love Is A God! (Rizzo's Bloodstain)" which is short on lyrics but long on atmosphere. The Ophelia-like "In Dreams That Snow In Dream" is of course, full of dreamy ambience. Just like with the bagpipes, you can't do a Mary Queen of Scots without doing a couple of tunes in French, so we have "Quand Vous L'Aimi" and "Que Suis-Je Helas?" and both are really quite different. "In Angel's Weed" is a very brief but poignant acapella in the murder ballad tradition. "As She Fold Quietly Into Milk" was inspired by an embroidery of a Reindeer and Milkmaid on the Shrewsbury Hanging stitched by Mary and taken from Conrad Gesner's 1560 'Icones Animalum,' the blindfolded milkmaid as a metaphor for Mary being blindly led to the scaffold.

There is no doubt that an incredible amount of detail and authenticity went into producing 'In My End Is My Beginning,' making little to no concession to commerciality. MacGillivray specializes in this kind of thing though, as my brief tour through other MacGillivray releases can attest, and her wonderful voice ties it all together. The album is elegantly and excellently executed, which is more than can be said for the Catholic Queen of Scotland's own demise.