I'm so lucky to have been featured again in this year's #encore series of music in association with the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Ty Cerdd at the National Eisteddfod 2020.
My 3 Little Welsh Songs (3 o Ganeuon Byrion) have been expertly brought to life in this new version for soprano and piano by Esyllt Thomas and Zoë Smith - diolch yn fawr / thank you very much!
These songs were originally written for a workshop with prominent Welsh-language opera singer Jeremy Huw Williams, who is also secretary of the Welsh Music Guild and the 2019/20 chairman of the Incorporated Society of Musicians.
The songs, written first for baritone and piano, were premiered by James Atkinson and Gamal Khamis at the Ludlow English Song Weekend Preview Concert in Marylebone in February 2020.
This new version for soprano was especially created for the #encore series, which features many world premieres of commissions from RWCMD / Ty Cerdd for the Eisteddfod 2020.
The three texts are englynion, perhaps the Welsh-langauge equivalent of the haiku - these poems are very compact, each only four lines long, but they are packed full of vivid imagery and beautiful symbolism:
1. Lliwiau’r Hydref
Liwgar deg lygredigaeth, gwywar haf,
Gwrid darfodedigaeth,
Tywyn ôl y tân a aeth,
Amryliw wisg marwolaeth.
- Henry Lloyd (Ap Hefin)
Liwgar deg lygredigaeth, gwywar haf,
Gwrid darfodedigaeth,
Tywyn ôl y tân a aeth,
Amryliw wisg marwolaeth.
- Henry Lloyd (Ap Hefin)
2. Yr Hebog
Hed hebog fel dart heibio, -
a'i wguf Lygaid yn tanbeidio ;
Drwy y drain y dyry dro:
Nid oes gân lle disgynno.
- Eliseus Williams (Eifion Wyn)
Hed hebog fel dart heibio, -
a'i wguf Lygaid yn tanbeidio ;
Drwy y drain y dyry dro:
Nid oes gân lle disgynno.
- Eliseus Williams (Eifion Wyn)
3. Cyfnos
Y nos dywell yn distewi, - caddug
Yn cuddio Eryri,
Yr haul yng ngwely'r heli,
A'r lloer yn ariannu'r lli.
- Walter Davies (Gwalter Mechain)
Y nos dywell yn distewi, - caddug
Yn cuddio Eryri,
Yr haul yng ngwely'r heli,
A'r lloer yn ariannu'r lli.
- Walter Davies (Gwalter Mechain)
1. Autumn colours
Colourful, beautiful corruption — summer fades,
Blush of death,
The last flickers of fire are gone,
Multicoloured robes of death.
- Henry Lloyd (Ap Hefin)
Colourful, beautiful corruption — summer fades,
Blush of death,
The last flickers of fire are gone,
Multicoloured robes of death.
- Henry Lloyd (Ap Hefin)
2. The Hawk
A hawk flies past like a dark — with his
Glowering eyes burning fiercely;
Through the thorns he twists and turns
There is no song where he lands.
- Eliseus Williams (Eifion Wyn)
A hawk flies past like a dark — with his
Glowering eyes burning fiercely;
Through the thorns he twists and turns
There is no song where he lands.
- Eliseus Williams (Eifion Wyn)
3. Twilight
Silence brought by the dark night
Eryri’s mountains veiled by mist:
The sun in the bed of brine,
The moon silvering the water.
- Walter Davies (Gwalter Mechain)
Silence brought by the dark night
Eryri’s mountains veiled by mist:
The sun in the bed of brine,
The moon silvering the water.
- Walter Davies (Gwalter Mechain)