Penllyn

I've been in York for a performance of my new piano piece Penllyn, based on the early nineteenth century hymn tune by David Jenkin Morgan (1752-1844).

Here is the original tune (above) and my own version of it.

It was included  in a lunchtime concert by pianist Duncan Honeybourne (see below) as the closing item in Piano Postcards: a programme of miniatures spanning 1916 to 2016 (I was providing the piece from 2016) at York’s Late Music concert series at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel near to the Shambles. 

The concert features pieces recorded by Duncan as part of a CD project set up by composer David Power featuring a selection of piano works by British composers written over the last century, culminating in recent pieces by David and myself (keep an eye on this blog or my website for more details when the CD is about to appear). There was also an evening concert given by the excellent Late Music Ensemble ensemble conducted by composer James Whittle who organised the day of concerts; it included a splendid new piece by David in tribute to David Bowie: Bye Bye Spaceboy.

We recorded all the pieces in York last year (see the blog I wrote then for more details), but it was never going to be possible to include the series of miniatures I wrote in the concert. This is because they do things with the piano that it is only possible to do in a recorded situation - for instance, doubling melodic lines played on the keyboard simultaneously with the same notes plucked inside the instrument, or adding many different layers of sound. 

Many thanks to Duncan who gave a wonderful performance of the piece and to James for his excellent organisation of the day - if anyone is interested in seeing a copy of the new piece, do drop me an email.

Winter isn't forever

On Saturday 27 February York's Late Music Series put on a day of events devoted to British Song in collaboration with York's Literature Festival. The events at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel near to the Shambles included a talk by myself on British song over the last hundred years or so and in the evening concert soprano Ana Beard Fernández and pianist Kate Ledger (see below) gave a fabulous premiere of my Three Winter Haiku, which set words by poet Francesca Kay. You can find more details of the day here and read a review of the concert here. Many thanks to Steve Crowther for arranging things.

The three haiku settings also have a short postlude for piano alone and make up a kind of micro-song cycle lasting about five minutes or so. They were inspired by Francesca's precise and very evocative words, taken from her collection of poems Garden Seasons. They are collected together, not in a book, but very strikingly in a seed packet with, in her words, "poetry seeds for the imagination inside". You can buy them by going to Francesca's website 

I have recently revised and produced a new copy of the score which can be obtained by contacting me through my website.