Abstract
Hwyl fawr ffrindiau:
This piece was written for a concert given by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in 2016 to bid farewell to Jackie and Stephen Newbould as they stepped down from their respective roles as Executive Producer and Artistic Director. It features the oboe – my own instrument – as soloist, as well as another one of the instruments that I play, and makes use of a song attributed to Edwin Pearce Christy (1815-1862) that is well known in the Anglophone world as ‘Goodnight Ladies’, but in Wales has been re-purposed as a song for children with the words ‘Hwyl fawr ffrindiau’ (goodbye friends).
The original version of this piece comprised a score for piano, viola and cello and individual parts for the woodwind that were only very loosely coordinated. This proved more challenging in performance than anticipated, and so this revision creates a fully notated score. The woodwind parts in the three tutti sections make use of repeated descending phrases, themselves made up of reiterations of the same trochaic rhythm. In the original version, these were notationally very simple, but in different (unrelated) tempi. Although more complex rhythms have been used to create this effect in the revised version, the performers should nevertheless strive to create the impression of very simple legato lines moving at slightly different speeds. To assist in this, indications of which notes are stressed and unstressed have been added, as the lines should float completely freely of the regular metrical stress patterns.
Bant â ni:
This piece is a companion of my piece Hwyl fawr ffrindiau, which is for the same instrumentation. The two pieces can be performed either separately or together. If performed together, they should be performed in the order Hwyl fawr ffrindiau/Bant â ni, and this is the title of the composite piece.
Commissioned by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group with financial assistance from Arts Council England and the following individuals through BCMG’s Sound Investment scheme.
This piece was written for a concert given by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in 2016 to bid farewell to Jackie and Stephen Newbould as they stepped down from their respective roles as Executive Producer and Artistic Director. It features the oboe – my own instrument – as soloist, as well as another one of the instruments that I play, and makes use of a song attributed to Edwin Pearce Christy (1815-1862) that is well known in the Anglophone world as ‘Goodnight Ladies’, but in Wales has been re-purposed as a song for children with the words ‘Hwyl fawr ffrindiau’ (goodbye friends).
The original version of this piece comprised a score for piano, viola and cello and individual parts for the woodwind that were only very loosely coordinated. This proved more challenging in performance than anticipated, and so this revision creates a fully notated score. The woodwind parts in the three tutti sections make use of repeated descending phrases, themselves made up of reiterations of the same trochaic rhythm. In the original version, these were notationally very simple, but in different (unrelated) tempi. Although more complex rhythms have been used to create this effect in the revised version, the performers should nevertheless strive to create the impression of very simple legato lines moving at slightly different speeds. To assist in this, indications of which notes are stressed and unstressed have been added, as the lines should float completely freely of the regular metrical stress patterns.
Bant â ni:
This piece is a companion of my piece Hwyl fawr ffrindiau, which is for the same instrumentation. The two pieces can be performed either separately or together. If performed together, they should be performed in the order Hwyl fawr ffrindiau/Bant â ni, and this is the title of the composite piece.
Commissioned by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group with financial assistance from Arts Council England and the following individuals through BCMG’s Sound Investment scheme.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Composers Edition |
| Publication status | Published - 2016 |